No one knows what might act as the spark for a particular creative process. It could be a larger societal issue in some cases and an intensely personal emotion in some others. For Pakistani filmmaker Shoaib Mansoor, it was more of the latter. But the result was something that tackles a much bigger social question facing the world in general and the Muslim society in particular.
Let’s hear it in Mansoor’s own words, “One morning I was going through a newspaper and saw my friend Junaid Jamshed’s interview in it. After looking at his new attire in the photograph published with the article, I could not stop myself from reading it. The more I read, the sadder I felt. He had announced quitting music after being convinced that it was haram. It really shook me. I have never believed that god could hate the two most beautiful things he has given to mankind – music and painting. I felt that a confused man like Junaid had no right to confuse thousands of his youthful followers. I had given him 16 years of my life as a true friend and had played my role in his professional life to the best of my abilities. How could he throw away our 16 years just like that without even consulting me? I felt that it was my duty to rectify the damage he had done to the already suffering society under the influence of fundamentalists. I thought that the need of the hour was to study the whole mindset which gave birth to such wrong notions about Islam. I have no doubt in my mind that instead of taking the present age 1,400 years back, we have to bring Islam to the present age. The best service to Islam today is to make it applicable to modern day requirements.”
The result of this emotional upheaval was Khuda Kay Liye, a hard-hitting, analytical yet dispassionate look at what is probably the biggest question facing the Muslim world – of faith, belief and society at large – post 9/11. After having stormed the box office in Pakistan and creating perhaps a bigger storm in the Pakistani society in the form of debates on the issues raised in the film, court cases by pro-fundamentalist people, even while giving people the taste of some home-grown thought-raising cinema, Khuda Kay Liye (KKL) which has India’s acting god Naseeruddin Shah in a pivotal role of a Moulvi who speaks sense amidst the cacophony of misinterpretation of Islam, is all set to become the first Pakistani film to get a big time commercial release in India (March 28).
KKL is an important film in more ways than one. It may have its drawbacks, of trying to deal with too many tracks simultaneously, though all of them are linked to the central theme, of an unwieldy length of nearly three hours, of a few playing-to-the-gallery characters and scenes and of too many musical interludes – though that is unavoidable as music is one of the underlying themes of the subject – but at the same time, it is a very important film not only in the Pakistani context but also in the context of the whole Muslim society. When it was released in the second half of 2007 in Pakistan, this film, produced by Geo Films (the film production wing of Geo TV), created an immediate storm in the country. Droves thronged to watch it in theatres, making it one of the biggest hits of Pakistani cinema, even as it raised the heckles of the religious hardliners for questioning their points of view.
Court cases were filed against it, but with reported backing by the Musharraf regime, it crossed the hurdles and continued to rule roost in the box office, even as it got screened in International Film Festival of India in Goa, the Festival of 3 Continents film festival in Nantes in France and a host of other such festivals. For the Pakistani viewers, it was a whiff of fresh air in the midst of mediocre stuff churned out by the traditional Lahore film industry, most of which can be described as poor copies of technically superior commercial Hindi films. It was the first time that the common cinegoer in Pakistan was getting to watch something homegrown in the realistic mode, tackling head on a subject that is a part of their everyday life.
That it is going to be the first Pakistani film to have a big-time commercial release in India – earlier Sabiha Sumar’s Kirron Kher-starrer Khamosh Pani had a limited release in the country – is quite significant for the fact that it will not be a usual commercial flick from that country to cross the borders, though Indian films being released in Pakistan in recent times have all been the usual masala flicks.
Mansoor’s real-life inspiration for the film also forms the core of the theme, as he traces the life path of two music-crazy brothers, one of whom gets influenced by a hardliner Moulvi to become a fundamentalist while the other becomes a victim of another form of hardline act after the 9/11 incident. There is a third track in the film, of a young British Muslim girl who is brought by her father to Pakistan by deceit so that she is prevented from marrying her British – and Christian – boyfriend. Even though the parallel stories of the two brothers form the backbone of the film from the point of view of the director, it is the young, educated girl’s story – intertwined with the musician-turned-fundamentalist brother’s story – that gives the strongest moments of the film. The film is aided by some high quality music and good cinematography, but it required a more decisive editor to make it more focused.
Shot in Lahore, Chicago, London and Para Chanar tribal area of Pakistan, the film is helmed by uniformly fine acting, be it by Pakistani superstar Shaan and young actor Fawad Khan in the roles of the two brothers facing contrasting fates, debutante Iman Ali (don’t be surprised if she gets a lot of offers from the Hindi film industry soon) as the British Muslim girl of Pakistani origin or by American actress Austn Marie Sayre as the elder brother’s girlfriend from the music college. But the most convincing portrayals come from veterans Rasheed Naz, as the fundamentalism-spewing Moulvi, and Naseeruddin Shah, as the reasonable voice of religion.
KKL touches upon some important issues that are causes of debate in the Muslim society, and there are quite a few scenes in the film that connects heavily with the viewer.
And the sincerity and courage with which it takes on the fight between the fundamentalists and liberal Muslims, as also the widespread prejudices Muslims are facing in large parts of the world post 9/11, make it an important piece of cinema in the current context. The film, according to its makers, is part of their vision to revive Pakistani cinema and lift it from the morass of cheap commercial projects it finds itself in. KKL succeeds to a great extent in what it sets out to do, while telling the viewer a very relevant story.
Pakistan, in recent times, has seen several talented filmmakers, mostly working independent, staying out of the Lahore film industry. Mansoor is the first among this breed, and hopefully, his success will act as a gateway to creativity for others.
