Finally,Pakistan comes up with a masterpiece!!!. Review on Khuda Ke Liye

There has always been an impression that Pakistani film industry churns out the most pathetic films ever on the face of this earth and I can`t blame anyone who thinks so. It has been years since the Pakistani film industry has managed to produce even a single decent movie (let alone a good one). However, things now seem to change with the arrival of a Pakistani movie called “Khuda Ke Liye: In the Name of God”. This is the most big budget movie ever in the history of the Pakistani film industry and is a movie of international standards and quality, which consists of an excellent plot, excellent performances, great music and great camerawork.

The film is produced, directed and written by Shoaib Mansoor, who had been directing Pakistani TV serials before and this is his first attempt at film-making. The film stars Pakistan`s top film actor, Shan, Pakistan`s No.1 model Iman Ali along with Fawad Khan, Austin Sayre, Rasheed Naz, Simi Raheal and (in a guest appearance) Naseerudin Shah.

The movie is about the problems faced by the modern, educated and liberal Muslims in today`s times who are disliked by the fundamentalists in their own community because of their modern thinking and their western attire and at the same time they are viewed suspiciously by the western world too because of their Muslim names, post the 9/11 incident.

The film tells the story about two brothers, Mansoor (Shan) and Sarmad (Fuwad Khan). Both of them are musicians and belong to a well-to-do family in Lahore.One day, Sarmad, through a religious friend of his, meets Maulana Taheri (Rasheed Naz), who tells him that music is haram (prohibited) in Islam. He also asks him that as a Muslim it`s his duty that he should grow a beard and should not wear western clothes.Due to Maulana Taheri`s brainwashing, Sarmad completely transforms himself into a mullah. He grows a beard, starts wearing shalwar kameez and gives up music.He even asks his mother to start wearing a burkha. On the other hand, there is Marie (Iman Ali), who lives in London with her Pakistani father. Her mother had passed away years ago and currently, her father is in a live-in relationship with a British woman.Marie has a British boyfriend called Dave, whom she intends to get married with. Marie`s father does not approve of this relationship as he feels that if his daughter will get married to a non-Muslim, it will be a disgrace to himself, within his Muslim community. Therefore, he deceives Marie by asking her to go with him to Lahore and promises her that once they return to Londond, he will get her married to Dave. Marie believes her father and goes to Lahore. Mansoor and Sarmad happen to be Marie`s cousins as they are her paternal uncle`s sons. Therefore, Mary and her father stay at their place. Marie`s father tries to convince Mansoor to marry his daughter but Mansoor refuses this proposal as he doesn`t want to cheat Marie.As a result, Marie`s father asks Sarmad to marry his daughter and so they take Marie to Waziristan (a hilly area near the Pak-Afghan border), where they forcibly get Marie married to Sarmad. On the other hand, Mansoor flies off to USA as he gets admission in a music school in USA. There, Mansoor meets **Jenny (Austin Sayre) and both of them fall in love with each other. When the 9/11 incident takes place, Mansoor and Jenny get married to each other before things might get worse. One night, when both of them are asleep the USA police authorities take Mansoor to a jail and arrest him, suspecting him to be a terrorist who played a part in the Twin Towers attack on 9/11. So, now there is Marie, trapped in Waziristan and trying to escape from there and in USA, there is Mansoor who is being manhandled by the USA police authorities.

The strongest points of this movie are Shoaib Mansoor`s direction and the dialogues. Despite the serious and socio-political theme of the film it doesn`t bore the viewer at all. The film is very gripping and some of the best scenes of the movie are as follows:

-When Sarmad turns into a maulvi and tells his brother that he wouldn`t play music as it is har*m

-When Marie is taken to Waziristan and is forced by her father to get married to Sarmad.

-When Marie tries to escape from Waziristan and her husband chases her with help of his mullah friend

-When Mansoor is in the police station and writes ‘I LOVE USA’ on the wall but after sometime adds MA to USA making it ‘I LOVE USAMA’.

-The BEST scene of the movie is where Naseerudin Shah gives his speech in the courtroom. That is the major highlight of the movie.

The dialogues of the movie are excellent and have a great impact on the audiences. For example the dialogue ‘deen main darhi hai, darhi main deen nahin’ (‘having beard is in the religion, the religion is not in beard’) and there are also some funny one liners such as ‘Maybe Osama Bin Laden is gay and he likes me’. The dialogues in Naseerudin Shah`s speech in the courtroom are such that they make you sit up and think. The film tries to answer some of the most important questions which every Muslim wants to ask; questions which interfere with the daily lives of millions of Muslims such as; is music har*am? Is it necessary to have a beard? Is it a sin to wear jeans, etc.? Is it sinful for a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim man? Does Islam encourage terrorism? The film answers these questions in such a convincing manner that you can`t help but agree with everything. The music of the movie is also really nice and my favourite songs are ‘Bandya’ and ‘Allah Hoo’.

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