Pakistan film industry is in its revival
mode ever since the Bollywood flicks are banned for the screening. In such
entertaining void some really good movies are being produced locally. Lately,
after watching ‘Laal Kabutar’ which not only ignites your curiosity about
Karachi but also portrays, day to day life problems of a common man, in the
crowded cities, one thinks that every new silver screen project will be at
least close to this one, within a budget and with little star power. But don’t
get too excited, we have a new case study of a movie with disastrous marketing
and brand defacement in similar urban environs.
The latest Lollywood film ‘Daal Chaawal’ was released on 4th of
October with a purpose to highlight the sacrifices of the law enforcement
agencies and paying tribute to the fallen heroes of the nation as well as
promoting Punjab Safe City’s role in controlling crimes in the city of
Lahore. The story spins around a young village boy, Ahmed, played by
upcoming Sufyan, who graduated recently and wants to find a white-collar job in
the capital of Punjab. He comes to Lahore, from a nearby village and stays at
his maternal uncle’s place, Khalu Khalil, played by a veteran star, Salman
Shahid, where he meets Sonia, the heroine of the film, a debutant Momina;
daughter of a martyred police official, and coincidentally his uncle’s solitary
but opulent landlady.
Towards the start of the film, Ahmed falls for Sonia, who works at
Lahore Safe City as an IT graduate pol
The story looks quite simple if told in few words, however, if you
go and watch the movie, it becomes a spicy case study of: How not to
market something? And I say this because the film is aimed at
highlighting the sacrifices of martyrs and efforts of Lahore Safe City in
curbing crime, but on the contrary, we see Safe City officer Sonia, drooling
over young guys like the lead character while she should actually be tracking
suspicious persons and vehicles, just like the one black car that pulls over in
the last scene and opens intended fires to assassinate all the lead
characters. Shocked? The best is yet to come!
Ahmed is staying at his uncle’s quarter inside a mansion, as a
tenant of Sonia. Khalu Khalil is an uncelebrated poet but a well-educated
person, often ridiculed by his nephew for his miserable existence. Ahmed also
takes digs at his pesky aunt, Saima Saleem, whenever she tries to persuade him
to join his uncle’s small food business but Ahmed looks down upon the manual
work as menial, despite the fact that his hosts are the ones who provided
him shelter and food in such testing times. His fruitless quest for executive
job meets with no hope.
Khalu barely makes his ends meet from the meager earning from Daal
Chaawal cart and Ahmed is penniless too, yet Ahmed is seen riding a heavy,
expensive motorbike with Sonia in high street fashion wardrobe. The villain,
Pehlwan, who owns shady businesses, transports explosives in his trucks, and
has links with a cross border terrorist who frequently visits Lahore. Pehlwan,
who kills cops for fun in his free time, is also seen, extorting a fistful of
rupees as protection money from poor Khalil’s pushcart, who is also is old
buddy. I mean, give me a break guys!
As far as the script is concerned, the most disappointing part,
where the sole purpose of the film; promotion of Safe City, goes down the
drain, was when we see Sonia stalking Ahmed with her roving eyes using the
state-installed CCTV cameras throughout the city. She spots Ahmed outside
Lahore Railway Station and then never leaves him alone. Even her police
colleague tries to tell her indirectly that she needs to focus on criminals but
Sonia ignores her with a carefree smile. Incredibly, she fails to recognize
Ahmed when he trespasses her annexed lantern-adorned villa, for the lamest
reason you can imagine.
Leaving all the other story-line problems aside, the ending just
kills the whole movie in cold blood when we see a car without any number
plate, pulling in and opening fire in broad daylight. It would have been better
if the suspicious car was rather spotted by the Safe City’s CCTV cameras and
the writer, Akbar Nasir Khan DIG of Punjab Police, who aimed at
capitalizing on the utility and efficacy of a multi-billion rupees mega
project, could have shown it as a success story for the cine-goers’ relief.
Further, the police department never bothers to crack
the trail of murder cases be it Sonia’s martyred father, a Police
Inspector or slain Khalil, which is a hard blow to the theme of the film, as
Khalil is one of the strongest supporting characters of the film yet Safe City
and police, with all the latest gadgetry and camera network of CCTV cameras,
fail to bring the perpetrators to justice. Credit must be given where it is
due. I really appreciate the filmmaker as he treats Khalil, a civilian, and
Akhtar, a Police Inspector, with the same sloppiness and indifference, by not
touching their case files.
Despite the fact that overtly Pehlwaan was behind every
blood-soaked victim in the movie and he never comes under any surveillance or
scrutiny, rather he was calling the shots for the police when he influences
local police to release the blast-injured Ahmed who was arrested on the direct
orders of the Safe City’s top man, Nasir, the producer-cum-actor himself; when
the hero turns as a suspected facilitator for the suicide explosion. Two key
lessons for the common man here; one is to never help the police as you will
languish in prison and second is to approach any local goon for your release
even if you are locked up on the orders of the highest law-enforcement
authority.
Fortunately, If the smoking bad guys, along with the hookah-avid
Pehlwan were not stupid and dumb enough to be holed up under one abandoned
factory’s roof only to serve as soft targets for shooting range style bullet
volleys from the police commandos, they could have enjoyed the rest of their
lung cancer life as free men for the fact that in every other scene, a bad guy
is shown smoking cigarettes and they blow out the smoke so deliberately and
cheaply that it may make many chain smokers quit the bad habit forever.
On the acting front, both lead characters were superficial in
almost all the scenes and couldn’t slightly touch the audience with any
performing skills. Both the lead characters and support cast had nothing
special to draw the viewers to cinemas. Salman Shahid, the legendary veteran
actor, was inconsistent and unimposing that is very disappointing to see,
knowing his aura and caliber. Shafqat Cheema, in his character, was swinging
like a squeaky pendulum from a ruthless killer to a dim-witted street urchin.
However, some close up shots and his usual playbook expressions helped him save
the day. An addict, by the name Cycle, a helping hand at Khalil’s cart,
exhibited the momentary yet the noteworthy acting spell; he made everyone
marvel whether he was actually on a substance abuse during the shoot. Although,
his presence on the food cart doesn’t make much sense but he stole the show
with a pair of tipsy eyes. The rest of the lackluster cast is not worth
mentioning.
The poetry and music were reasonably better. Songs being
well-placed and lyrics are melodic. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan outperformed all the
other singers. The composition, singing and sprinkling of numbers is perhaps
the only good memory that you take home at the cost of a hefty ticket price,
but you don’t go to theatres for a jukebox fun. Directorial debut by Awais
Khalid was below average. Cheesy sets, fake dialogue delivery,
exaggerated expressions, overblown make-up, and terrible costumes ruined
the whole visual experience with glaring editing goofs, which tells us how
important it is to attach a good director to a project instead of having
average actors. Last but not least, I don’t know who gave the director this
idea that bad guys always smoke cigarettes as he really took it to the next
puffing level. 
The most surprising thing is that the producer-cum-writer, Akbar
Nasir Khan being a high-ranking officer of Punjab police couldn’t even check
the modern and conventional policing blunders in his own scribbled saga of Daal
Chawal. Other than that, a bleak ending with an ultimate triumph of the forces
of evil, and Safe City’s defunct brand placement mocked the very idea of making
a film that was supposed to be a PR exercise and a marketing engine for the
Punjab police in Naya Pakistan. A film trying to honor police martyrs only
showcased more civilian fatalities and departed souls of the cops. Ultimately,
it exposed the state-of-the-art police setup of Safe City as more regressive
and redundant, which left the audience wondering with a loud and clear message;
Logoon Jagday Rehna
Saday Te Na
Rehna
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