ashdoc53
If the director wanted to make a statement against the population explosion in Pakistan , then he makes it in a brutal and convoluted manner...........Or so it seems...........Or more probably , its the reality of Pakistan--a country going to the dogs anyway......In a country which abounds in religious fanatics , its a story of one of them....Not a jehadi , but a commonplace religious fanatic.....He is a guy who produces seven daughters in the hope of getting a son ; a person who beats up his daughters and wife ; refuses to send his daughters to school beyond fifth grade ; does not even watch films ; and has a murderous bent about him , especially in matters of religion...........And the amazing thing is that , he is considered an ultra- respectable gent ; a pillar of the community in his area !! A person to be trusted with the safekeeping of the community funds !! More proof of Pakistan going to the dogs ??His reputation is built on his religiosity , and the fact that subcontinental peoples have a remarkable respect for doctors--even the native variety ; and this fellow is a hakeem......Misfortune falls upon the hakeem as one of his children turns out to be a eunuch....Though his sisters lavish love and affection on their...err...' brother ' , he cannot go against nature , and falls in love with his sister's boyfriend..........Prompting her to send him to a place outside home--Big mistake !! He is raped by men who prey on such unfortunates.....This sends his hakeem father in a murderous rage in which he kills his eunuch ' son '.The story takes incredible convolutions after this--To bribe the police in order not to go to jail for the murder, hakeem sahib has to steal from the community funds that he has for safekeeping , and to give them back to the community, he has to go to a pimp.....The pimp makes an unbelievable deal with the hakeem--he says ( and would you believe it !! ) '' you sleep one night with my most beautiful prostitute , Meena--for you have a reputation for producing daughters ; and daughters are needed to keep us in business in future generations !! '' In return for this ' favour ', he is ready to give the money.....But the conscience of the hakeem forces him to cajole Meena into sending the newborn daughter to him to prevent her from being a prostitute . But the pimps hoodlums come to his house to take the girl back--prompting the godfearing hakeem to try to kill the daughter ; this , in turn forces his rebellious older daughter to kill him.....Phew !!.....As if this was not enough , she does not say anything in her own defence in court , but asks that she be allowed to tell her story on TV just before she is hanged--and then she vomits out the whole story..... What was the need for the director to resort to this final melodrama ?? Why could she not vomit out the story in courtroom itself ?? God ( oh , I mean allah ) knows.....Oh , I forgot--all this is to prove that producing too many children is wrong.....Now WTF !!The movie is dark ,depressing , and full-to-dimaag-ko-tension...Verdict--if you have a perversion for perverted movies ( I do !! ) , then this might work for you....
Zabi Khan
Bol is a story of a daughter who defies her father and the society that treat women as lesser beings. Bol clearly brings to light the status of women in developing countries that brags about equal rights for men and women. Bol has a gripping narrative as it showcases the struggle, agony and the determination of a family to survive against all odds. The film primarily objects to the idea of reproducing human beings into this world (blinded by faith and self-centered intentions) without taking complete responsibility of their existence. Concurrently it also highlights the regressive attitude of a male-dominated society that offers no liberty to woman in choosing life-partner, refusing reproduction, gaining education or working independently. At several instances, the movie smartly underscores the irony of life. Here, good performance by Humaima Malick (Zainub)who portrays the angst of a girl who itches to do the right thing is and Manzar Sehbai(Hakim),who is stellar in his performance as a hypocritical man.A rock-concert number by Atif Aslam seems somewhat out of place in this film. Also the entire media circus and bureaucratic drama surrounding Zainab's death sentence could have been avoided. But there is so much and more that the film explores that you can ignore about the flaws.Bol sends out a message demanding equality and exposes certain grave issues plaguing our society and is bold attempt to portray the ugly truth. A must watch.
Awaix Javaid
Well I saw the Pakistani film "Bol" after a very long time from its release. The reason was only the past memories from the direction of Shoaib Mansoor, "khuda ke liye" it was a very loose topic and directed so poorly that I left interest in watching from his direction anymore. I was of the view that he chose a very poor topic, presented it in a very poor direction and finally cashed out the name of "naseer ud din shah". I am a great admirer of Naseer ud din shah, he is a legend of East, his excellence and his mastery of expressions is beyond words. Shoaib just mesmerized the viewers with the cast and nothing else. This was my views after watching the film.Bol, well I was totally taken on a different drive while watching this film, this film was directed in much better pace and it had a very strong rhythm. In the beginning I was a bit bored by the typical eastern culture boring happenings, the usual crying scenes in a typical village manner, but later movie started getting strength with the very powerful, again I say very powerful acting of Humaima Malik. She ravaged the stage, blasted the expressions and took me in completely with the ambushed performance.Though I would like to tell you that, movie is in slow pace, talking on the whole, some unnecessary things which were not needed, and could be neglected, were implanted, but they surely had a different left over on mind like they say in "twilight" series, the implanting.The performance of Manzar Sehbai as Hakeem was superb, he did a great acting and he was the most accurate person for this role. The role of Zainab by Humaima Malik, again was very strong, in my view she takes the lead over everyone with her bold, courageous and speculating expressions and with this the movie went strong.Yet not to forget the role of Iman Ali, as meena kumara, another very strong role she played, accurately performed as she could have been and her depiction of being the inspirited Lakhnow whore was no doubt very good. Yet I believe she could be of a little more of pleasure rather than being casted as a "twaif" in my view, if she could perform with lead role, rather than being introduced as a "appear in" cast in the film, she could make this film a better.Finally I come to the topic raised in this film, the uncontrolled birth rate versus the (thought) doomed births of girls in the Indo-Pak based cultures which still persists somewhere deep in the minds of this land, whoever you pick, the most poor to the most rich, you will finally find some germs of this disease in him or her if you go in the genotype of this nation. There are so many problems in this section of world, the above all is marital literacy rate in the man-alive and male dominated society yet not to forget, that yes this problem does persist but its remnants are much spicule now. Yes I agree with the subject matter of this film, but it has been portrayed in a very long film, with undue prolonging of something which if avoided could be better.I would like to add something more, the role of Iman ali was very strong, yet not portrayed strongly, which could be made enchanting by adding some of old Lakhnavi style mujras, which could raise this film to a better height. Yes I know the people would disagree, from its need, this is because we are taught that these things are bad. Why? This was our culture, going to roots of Indo-Pak this culture existed and history of Mughals is lubricated with these kinds of tales. And because this film was very strong in subject and must be raised to international level, but let me tell you something, somewhat the reasoning of why I said to add Lakhnavi style mujras, if you compare the east side of Asia, compare with the films of Iran, they have a culture of dancing, and they show it in their films, do their films get censored, no? They portray it openly, again come to India, they have dances in their culture, and do they prohibit, no. then why we do. This is my view, others might disagree.Overall I would rate this film as 8/10, because in my view, the film should have ended with the hanging of Humaima (Zainab), leaving behind a question mark on the minds of viewers but as usual, the wish of happy ending tradition in Urdu films, made the director do the same.It's worth watching, at least in my view.
