Throughout its promotions, the Balu Mahi cast has been vocal
about the film being a typical paisa vasool offering that hardly has anything
indigenous about it. That is unfortunately very true but even with all the
clichés of modern-day romantic comedies, Haissam Hussain manages to keep you
fixated for the most of his film. His sense of humour offers a refreshing mix
of highbrow and whacky jokes and characters that come for a short while but
leave a long-lasting impression. I couldn’t get Javed Sheikh’s ‘bheriya moment’
out of my head as I walked out of the cinema 10 minutes before the film ended.
It had become too much for the bladder and Sadaf Kanwal’s beauty shots weren’t
good enough reason to rest my case.
The film begins with Bilal (Osman Khalid Butt) all set to
express his feelings to his girlfriend who is about to get married to another
guy. As soon as the girl reveals her face, it turns out that it’s Mahi (Ainy
Jaffri Rehman) and not the girl Butt was looking for. This creates confusion
and Mahi forces Bilal to run away with her so as to save herself from a fate
she never wanted. They run away only to realise the mistake they had committed
and so begins a chase between their families and their dreams.
One could hardly contain a yawn during this entire
establishing sequence. The drama though was forced, and actors, particularly
Butt and Jaffri seemed rusty as if it was literally the first sequence of the
entire shooting process. There were some major sound panning issues as well
with the dialogues coming from one side of the hall and the score and effects
from the other side. But just when you were about to look at your watch and think
about the quality of caramel popcorns, the film actually picked up.
With the passing of narrative both Jaffri and Butt shined
and showcased one of the most well-suited performances in Pakistani cinema. The
edginess and confusion Butt portrayed as a man who is learning to dare and take
charge of things remarkably blended with his good looks. He is in process of
proving himself to be more than just a chocolate hero. Ainy on the other hand
was the real surprise package; it seemed like either Mahi was tailor-made for
her or that is actually a character very similar to her real life persona. Her
dialogue delivery was on point and so was the spontaneity of her body
movements, she was literally going with the flow and Hussain deserves equal
credit for paying attention to such details. Team that with Sahir Ali Bagga’s
exceptional command on excelling at film music and you have a recipe for
success.
As a film buff I’ve always despised the romantic comedy
genre. Its shallow and you know what’s going to happen in the end of it. That
was exactly the case with Balu Mahi but where Hussain really stood out was his
intertwining of sub-plots and subtlety with which he communicated them on
screen. Having said that, like most of the Pakistani films and some Bollywood offerings
too, he opened so many threads within the subplots that by the time he tried to
resolve each one of them, it was already too tangled.
In Faiz’s words, director Haissam Hussain arrives like
spring silently appears in the wilderness and gives us enough moments to
embrace Balu Mahi despite its unbearable duration. You can easily walk out
after two hours of the film and you aren’t going to miss anything…save for some
drop dead gorgeous shots of Sadaf Kanwal.
Verdict: Balu
Mahi is long but not tiring. Watch it so see Pakistani actors shake a leg in
style
Rating: 3 out of
5 stars
Article Courtesy : Express Tribune
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