Khuda ke Liye: The Positive Change That is Round the Corner.... review

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Yasser Usman reviews Pakistani film Khuda ke Liye

Day before yesterday a friend called up "hey would you like to come for the evening show of Khuda ke liye? I've got two tickets‘¦" Though I had heard about the film and the decent reviews it has got, I was apprehensive about watching a 'Pakistani film' for the simple reason that they are too loud and melodramatic with shoddy production values. But he convinced me by arguing that we would come out of the theatre if we didn't like it‘¦So the film started‘¦..'Khuda ke liye‘¦In the name of God'‘¦and three hours passed.

First things first‘¦we didn't come out of the theatre. And most importantly, it kept us and 170 audiences glued to the theatre screen for good three hours.

Khuda ke liye is unlike all Pakistani commercial films‘¦it is not loud, it is 'pleasantly' melodramatic and it has 'decent' production values that go too well with the subject.

The film deals with a very complicated issue in which the Pakistanis in particular and the Muslims in general are entangled especially since 9/11. The tussle between the fundamentalists and the Liberal Muslims. Before we further talk about the finer points, let's take a look at the storyline in brief.

Hussain, a British Muslim of Pakistani origin is shocked when he discovers that his daughter Maria (Iman Ali) is in love with a white Christian man. Ironic, considering that he himself is in a live-in relationship with a British woman. To save the 'honor' of his family, he brings his daughter to Pakistan and forces her to marry a cousin, so that her offspring will remain Muslim.

Simultaneously, the director has weaved parallel tracks into the narrative dealing with characters of a fundamentalist Maulana (Rasheed Naz), his conservative views on modern lifestyle, music and his tactics of brainwashing young minds.

The story further includes the track of a young Pakistani musician (Shan) studying music in an American university. He is wrongly detained and forced to confess a crime in which he is not involved i.e. 9/11.

The film cleverly depicts how racial discrimination has crept into the American police force, post 9/11. And finally, providing a poetic justification to the story in a well researched soliloquy by the liberal Maulana (NaseeruddinShah) putting forward the tolerant and broadminded views of Islam.

Director Shoaib Mansoor excels in raising a bold issue, the issue of the utter confusion in the minds of Muslims about adjusting to the times, while still holding on to their Muslim identity that has been under threat post 9/11. Whether a Muslim girl can marry a non-Muslim? Whether music is 'haram' in Islam? Is keeping a beard compulsory for the followers of Islam? The questions are many and Khuda ke liye raises and almost answers all of them in a hard hitting manner. More importantly, all through this journey, it remains an entertaining mainstream film containing all the aspects of a well researched documentary.

The film effectively tackles a controversial theme. It successfully portrays the dilemma of educated and liberal Muslims who are constantly targeted by fundamentalists just for being the voice of reason. It's ironical that they are criticized by the fundamentalists in their own country and on the other hand the Western world sees them as potential suspects of terrorism just because of their Muslim names. This paradox is dealt with absolute sensitivity in Khuda ke liye.

Helping the director and his free-flowing screenplay are the subtle but effective performances. Pakistani star Shan, who plays the role of the young musician Mansoor looks chubby but plays his role with full gravity, particularly when he is in detention. However, the most notable performance is by Rasheed Naz in the role the radical Maulana Tahiri, he is just fabulous. One can actually watch the film for his brilliant performance.

Naseeruddin Shah, playing the liberal Maulana Wali was expected to give a superb performance and he doesn't disappoint. He gets to deliver the best dialogues- 'deen me dadhi hai, dadhi me deen nahi' ( Religion encompasses the beard, not vice versa) or 'haraam ki kamai jeb me rakhkar, halal ghosht ki dukaan dhoondhte hain' (People look for Halal meat shops with inappropriate earnings in their pocket.). I actually heard audiences clapping in the theatre.

Khuda ke liye is a positive film and highly recommended for anyone who is even remotely interested in the issue. The final scene remains with you for long‘¦Sarmad (who was brainwashed by the radical mullah for jihad but is back to a "normal life") and Shershah (a disciple the radical Maulana) competing for the Azaan. The film ends at the competition for the microphone between the two‘¦the positive change that is about to begin‘¦

Watch it now!!! Khuda ke liye‘¦