this movie sounds interesting..when i was in pak i saw some clips of the songs…quality looked really good compare to usual pakistani movies..i wonder where i would be able to get this though?
http://www.funkar.com/lollywood/ydreview.htm
The movies open in a thriller fashion: a couple running down streets flanked by high-rise apartments and dark surroundings illuminated by street lights. A gun appears in close up. A shot is fired. Was a foreign film being shown on the screen?
Familiar faces, the next moment, establish that it is not. And from there the story starts unfolding in a somewhat familiar fashion, with picturization and other technical values at a highly professional level. The initial focus is on two young friends, one of them a matador, not an unlikely pursuit even for a Pakistani if he is living in Spain for some years. The friends decide to have a holiday in Switzerland.
With movement from one picturesque landscape to another begins a romance that frets, flounders and flourishes for the remaining footage. It takes some expected and quite a few unpredictable but not out of character turns in actor director Jawed Sheikh’s latest work, Yeh Dil Aap Ka Howa.
Javed Sheikh has established two things in his career: he is a survivor and he is restless. His career as actor ebbed and flowed but there was no looking back once he returned to the big screen via television. He, however, needed a wider canvass for his talents and direction. His command over the medium has improved with every movie; Yeh Dil, his sixth production, transports him to a place in the sun as director.
Babar Kashmiri’s story, with dialogue by Babar and Sherry Malik, who has also written the screenplay, is a mix of simple and complicated the obvious and the surprising to startling revelations. The love triangle is one of the most battered themes of cinema the world over. Yet its possibilities remain unexhausted. In the ultimate, the director’s treatment determines the level and quality of a movie. JS has come out as a truly professional director in YDAKH. The duration of sequences is short, slick and quick; footage or the viewer’s time is not wasted; timing is precise.
The film revolves around romance. There is logic to sudden, first sight love. Moammar Rana, a young Pakistani living in the West has unidentified yearnings for eastern culture; he probably does not recognize them himself. Sana has no such compulsion. She smiles and ignores, but surrenders when the amorous vibrations towards her are registered and touch her heart.
Technical values are excellent, indeed a few notches higher. Facilitated by well-defined character delineation, casting is near perfect. Jawed wisely avoids a youthful outing and casts himself as a devoted elder brother who would protect his sibling at any cost. He has no hesitation surrendering his ego when his principles and the younger brother’s interests are at odds. But the opponent lives by a code of arrogance. He extends boardroom differences, business rivalry and rigid ness of attitude to human relations. A clash becomes unavoidable.
Jawed Sheikh has come a long way from the naturally romantic and mischievously smiling extrovert to being a thoughtful performer of measured eloquence and expression synthesizing with the screen character. His is a sterling performance of truly international class as actor in YDAKH that can be favorably compared with the work of more celebrated foreign artists who are patriotically backed by the adoring media of their country. Jawed has reached his present level mostly, if not entirely on his own, despite specially put up road blocks.
The mustached character is Babar Ali. What is this winsome young man doing in the garb of a villain when he should be jumping up and down gardens or specially designed sets with some leading lady? Our film industry has forced him to evil appearances. He has displayed impressive ability to deliver what is actually not his forte. Babar Ali’s villainy in YDAKH is a way of life, seething anger as against shouting and brawling that he is required to deliver in most of his other outings.
Moammar and Salim Sheikh are custom-made as care free friends and excel in transformations. Salim’s is in fact a superb turn from a happy-go-lucky, affectionate individual to a venom spitting person. Except for his recent Ghazi Ilm in Shaheed, one thought Moammar Rana was loitering in the wrong street. He does very well under the guidance of Jawed Sheikh. But the director faulted in casting Moammar in his own image of earlier years. Javed used to get away with over acting as a brash young man - there are times when Momi has a problem distinguishing between major and minor notes. Still, he is far superior in YDAKH than in any of his previous outings and the film should prove take off point for his career.
Pakistani cinema has heroes, heroines, artists for senior characters, mothers, aunts, humorists. But the department of youngish women who can be cast in small but vital roles is totally deserted. YDAKH has charming Zoha of the small screen playing the role of Babar Ali’s wife in an accomplished manner. She brings poise and cultured presence to her debut on the big screen. One hopes that the film industry, inimical though it is to the entery of a certain type of people, utilizes her services.
YDAKH also provides a belated big screen outing for veteran television artist Badar Khalil and finds an accomplice in Sumeha for humor monger Ismael Tara. Neither should one forget Veena Malik who makes an attractive contribution as the girl who failed to attract the young man she had quietly loved. She renders a dance with pleasant girlish abandon.
While acting is generally of a high standard two artists merit special mention. Versatility should be Shafqat Cheema’s first name. The resourcefulness with which he has battled non descript roles in Punjabi cinema is an achievement in itself. A decent opportunity in Syed Noor’s Daku Rani produced a magnificent performance. Cheema eagerly, indeed hungrily grabs the small role in YDAKH and brilliantly exploits its potential. He plays his intentions so close to the heart that no one can decipher his next movie; he leads everyone to the wrong conclusion.
Jawed Sheikh brings out the best in Sana on every count. Wardrobe adds to her assets and cinematography presents her as a fabulously beautiful young woman. After many years has Pakistan found a leading lady who combines grace and glamour of a classy actress in her person.
Cinematography is a consistently creative asset of the film. The caliber of Waqar Bokhari was never in doubt but he could rarely come in to his own because most local filmmakers have little concern for the quality of technical values; the efforts of those who are quality conscious are thwarted by investors. The film provides Bokhari an opportunity and he doesn’t miss a frame whether it is the splendor of landscape or lighting of indoors, though his work in the first area is superior to the second. Another professional to benefit from the film is composer Amjad Bobby, largely ignored by both cinema and television. His score is lilting, easy on the ear, hum able and fresh. Background music supports and interprets visuals. Recordings are of international standard and the sound system used, as also other technical aspects, should give the film access to the international market that is currently a debarred territory for Pakistani cinema.
YDAKH is not flawless. It has its shortcomings and some of them could have been avoided. Interiors could have better matched with exteriors; the ending has abruptness about it. But a venture that is miles ahead of an average Pakistani films merits more emphasis on its plus points than on listing of its demerits. In any case, the assets of the film far outweigh its liabilities. Its strength is quality acting, high watch ability, excellent music, a film free of vulgarity but not lacking in entertaining material and above all, a film one can watch with family. What more should a filmgoer want from an industry that has been submerged by guns, gore, large scale killings and dancing bordering on the pornographic?
