Khuda Kay Liye: ‘Progressive’ Discovery of Ignorance
Abhishek Bandekar reviews Khuda ke Liye
Khuda Ke Liye (2007)
Many have jumped the gun in labeling Khuda Kay Liye as a film about the travails of ‘liberal’ Muslims in a post 9/11 world. The tag is not only convenient but also very disturbing, for it supposes two ‘types’ of Muslim, not contained within the parameters of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but simply ‘liberal’ or ‘radical’. So yes, Khuda Kay Liye is about two brothers who, in a subversion of Bollywood trope, end up on different sides of…not the law, but religion. Mansoor(Shan), the older of the two brothers leaves for USA in early 2000 to study music after his kid brother and band-mate Sarmad(Fawad Khan) gets seduced by the religious brainwashing of cleric Maulana Tahiri(Rasheed Naz) and enlists as a clueless jihadi. While Mansoor finds himself questioning the future of a relationship with his newfound love in the US- the blonde American Janie(Austin Marie Sayre), Sarmad agrees to marry his London-raised cousin Mary(Iman Ali) against her wishes because he, like her hypocritical father(Humayun Kazmi), believes it to be in her best interests. Yet, despite this brief summary, the story isn’t so much about ‘liberal’ and ‘radical’ Muslims as much as it’s about misguided beliefs and notions and of course the ludicrousness of it all.
Mary’s father, running a convenient store in London, is in a live-in relationship with an Englishwoman but he cannot fathom the ignominy of having his daughter marry a non-Pakistani. His farmhouse-living affluent ‘progressive’ cousin in Pakistan mocks him for being this rigid but cannot digest his living with a woman he isn’t married to without rolling his eyes. Mansoor can’t believe his brother growing a beard and giving up music in the name of religion but yet claims ownership to the Taj Mahal as belonging to Pakistan simply because it was built by a Muslim ruler, by which yardstick of course the larger tacit implication is that Pakistan is a Muslim state and India a Hindu one. And then there is Maulana Tahiri who falls back on pop-philosophy when rendered speechless(“Aurat ke saath pyaar karte waqt dil se sochte ho, allah ke waqt tumhein dimaag yaad aa jaata hai!”).
The point that Shoaib Mansoor is trying to make, I believe, is of irony. The irony in ‘reading’ Arabic but not ‘understanding’ it, the irony in ‘running’ away in a ‘burqa’, the irony in ‘singing’ the ‘azaan’ and so on. Which is why I insist that this film is not about two ‘types’ of Islam, but instead of the doom that stares back at us in a world full of hasty assumptions. Nothing captures this sentiment more perfectly than the tongue-in-cheek moment when Mary’s father, having married off his daughter and leaving her to her fate somewhere in the middle of Afghanistan, insists on heading back to the UK because the toilet facilities aren’t up to his standards!
Moments like the aforementioned one which flow smoothly are few however. And therein lays the problem with the film. Shoaib Mansoor wants to make too many points, all relevant and worthy. But in the process, he handicaps his own film. One can almost imagine Shoaib jotting down points and then crafting a screenplay around it. This is especially unfortunate in regards to the characters, who like the incidents, end up becoming mere tools to further arguments. Take for instance the scene where the American army attacks a Taliban settlement. Sarmad realizes the futility of it all here, and yet one never really feels anything due to the rushed manner of its execution. In contrast, Mary’s forced marriage is handled masterly, a disturbing scene if there ever was.
Sarmad’s character suffers the most, in that his is the least developed of the three leads. His brainwashing and then his un-brainwashing, both aren’t documented plausibly. Mansoor’s character doesn’t really go anywhere post-interval. It is only Mary who has a satisfactory resolution after a sketchy beginning. Even performance-wise Iman Ali, daughter of Abid Ali, gets into her groove after a shaky start. Fawad Khan, sounding very similar to Kunal Kapoor, hits the same notes. Shan however, save a few overacted bits, is very effective. One must also mention Austin Marie Sayre who in her limited screen-time gives the film’s most naturally effervescent performance. The same can’t be said of Humayun Kazmi who makes acting look more difficult than rocket science and puts on the worst acting display I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Naseeruddin Shah, in a guest appearance, steals the show. Arriving on the scene in the penultimate reels, Naseeruddin’s Maulana Wali is the mouthpiece of the director, mouthing lines beautifully in chaste Urdu. What is admirable is that his dialogues, like those of the exchange between KayKay Menon and Aditya Shrivastava in Black Friday, are consciously written as a seeti-taali monologue(“Daadhi ishq ka aaghaz nahin; inteha hai!”), to avoid sounding like doctrines. I did have a problem however with Wali’s defending Mary by suggesting that she is not a Muslim to begin with. I found this very condescending and will be very thankful to anybody who’d explain what exactly he meant when he said that.
Finally, no review of Khuda Kay Liye can be complete without a mention of its music. This is hands-down one of the best albums in recent times. Every track from the lovely Bande to the trippy Allah to the soulful symphony Tiluk Kamod are a mélange of different sounds and are given justice in their filmed avatars, especially Allah which accompanies a riveting scene of Mary’s attempted escape shot against a rustic backdrop. I am reminded of the Leopold Stokowski quote that “A painter paints pictures on canvas…But musicians paint their pictures on silence.”
For a film made by a composer and this connected to music, both compositionally and thematically, it is only fitting that the film ends by invoking the Prophet Dawood(David)- he who was gifted with the most beautiful of vocal chords.
My Rating: 
Your Rating
(5 votes, average: 3.6 out of 5)
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A must see film. Excellent music. Shot in three continents. Can’t believe its director’s first film!!!!
Excellent movie. My ratings: ****
I think the review does justice to the subtleties that others may have ignored. My rating is 4 star and add one to encourage the director to make more films which do not follow the established formula.
I think he mentioned that she is not Muslim to begin with because she didnt practise Islam. Or should I say that the girl didnt consider herself Muslim in the first place. She even called herself Mary. When a person doesnt consdier himself/hersself Muslim, how can Islamic laws be applicable on that person?
First of all i would like to ask Mr. bandekar this very innocemt question. You have mentioned very highly of the music in Khuda Kay Liye…. but i would like to correct you… probably you were appreciating the different song tracks n the film….but to appreciate a film’s music it must have what is called a background score which was totally missing in the film…..When i went to watch this film i had high expectations…. but i was quite disappointed 1) technically the film was very amateurish 2) the screenplay was very weak in some parts 3) i dint feel for any character except for Mansoor’s 4) some dialogues sounded very funny for eg. when the fat american officer asks him to remove his clothes he says ‘you fat bitch…’??? how do u explain that? 5) The writer director had such a good subject…. but because of all the above said reasons… the film remains compromised. So lets start giving films, the reviews they deserve rather than putting them in a pedestral for nothing.