Bol Review by Galaxy Lollywood

“BOL”

The review by Galaxy Lollywood

Movie Name: Bol

Release Date: 24^th June 2011

Director: Shoaib Mansoor

“BOL” needs no introduction for sure, from the very first shot of the very first day it has been in news. Be it due to the bold content of the film or due to the variety of actors, Bol has always managed to create headlines. Despite always being in the news and being termed as the biggest film of the year Bol did prove to have its own glitches, which we will discuss later in the review. Whatsoever the content and its weak points were, the overall presentation of the film was so strong that it washed all its frail aspects away and  we can with confidence say  that Shoaib Mansoor did meet the expectations people had after his first film “Khuda Kay Liyay”.

Although Bol is running to packed houses with people, specially families having advance bookings, coming and loving the movie. But the fact is that Bol is not really a film for your entire family, at least not for children. It’s not just because of the strong language that has been used in the film, but the hard-hitting topics and the different societal taboos that are touched in the movie have nothing to do with kids, and it’s would be our sincere suggestion to all those people who are making plans to go and watch the movie in cinemas in the near future to consider this aspect as well.

But one thing that we can easily say is that, Bol has surely redefined the meaning of “Boldness” in this filmmaking business. Topics that could have been presented with visual vulgarity and so called ultra-boldness were handled in such a delicate way that it fulfilled both the requirements; first of fully delivering the message and second of not letting people feel embarrassed. Now that’s what makes “Shoaib Mansoor” stand above other lot of directors.

All that has been mentioned above is just an idea of how the movie finally came out. But now let’s get into the details and discuss all the different aspects significant to the film.

Cast Placement/Role distribution:

The cast placement was pretty fine and everyone seemed to have a suitable part to play in the film. Except for Shafqat Cheema and Irfan Khoosat and some others with smaller roles, you won’t find many actors from the traditional acting bank of the country. This maybe good for wooing the urban audience into watching the film, but may limit its reach in the rural parts of the country.

But we are aware of the fact that our industry needs fresh faces and if we won’t create value for them by doing what Shoaib Mansoor did, then this dream of film industries revival will always remain that–a dream, thus we support the idea of the director and think that everyone did justice with whatever role they had.

Apart from that, if we look at the much talked about part of Atif Aslam and Mahira Khan, then as everyone is saying, we also believe that their roles at times felt unnecessary and it seems as if it was specially created for mainly the reason of bringing more urban value to the movie which proved to be successful too till a great extent. The under-text message of their respective part of the plot, however, which touched Shia – Sunni conflicts, wasn’t given its due space in the movie and thus didn’t manage to create much of an impact overall. Besides that, Atif was perfectly suiting with his role of a doctor while Mahira too was also looking good in her new look.

Apart from them, Manzar Sehbai, Zeb Rehman, Humaima Malik, Iman Ali, Shafqat Cheema and all others were looking perfect in their respective roles and all of them did a commendable job in whatever space they had.

                                                   Rating for cast placement/Character selection: 3.5/5 stars

Acting:

Although the cast placement could have been better but the cast chosen did an amazing job. Manzhar Sehbai was really very strong at his part and showcased flawless acting, he basically was the centre character of the movie and knowing his importance he did a marvellous job which can be seen in the end product. Zeb Rehman and Hummaima Malik too put up an amazing show and definitely made their characters more real and lively. Iman Ali had a short role but did it to the best of her capacity, her acting has matured after Khuda Key Liye and did justice to her role. She added the star value to the film and we loved her different and new style of acting.

Atif Aslam and Mahira Khan as mentioned earlier were sort of under-served and neither did they do much wonders. By the end of the film it was quite evident that they had been cast for merely their youth factor as they did not have much to do other than dance and sing, and to some extent create a subtext message out of their part. If we look at their acting , it was pretty–let’s say average but not unexpected as both were the acting debutantes in the film and also acted under the umbrella of other great talent that Shoaib Mansoor had gathered for the film. We hope they will only improve from hereon and will give better performances in their further acting ventures.

Shafqat Cheema did a marvellous job in his role and proved what a fine actor he is. He was perfectly suiting with his role and the way he carried it, was just amazing. Though we have mostly seen him playing negative roles in his past projects, but in Bol he had a very different and a light character, placed basically to pave the way for the character of Iman Ali, and he was just perfect there.

The new faces had short roles but did an okay job. An exception is Amr Kashmiri (Saifi) who outdid himself. All in all, keeping in mind the nature of sub-continental acting, we think that actors did a great job and their work is surely something worth praising.

           Rating for overall acting: [4.6 (Public) + 4.25 (GL) = 8.85/2] = 4.4/5 stars

Story & Topic:

The story of film can be best summarised as a collection of many different bold sub plots. The plot of the transgender child was revealing, whereas the red light area plot was also amazingly put together. But as we have constantly mentioned in the article before, Atif – Mahira part wasn’t really well spaced, if it had to be there then it must have got a much greater space in the movie than just two or three short scenes, the subject of sect-ism is sure not a very ordinary topic, and requires a certain depth and concentration which we found lacking there. Shoaib Mansoor perhaps put too much in his plate of script. The main plot or idea, however, was well presented and managed to hit the hearts and minds of the people very well.

The main point raised in the film was: ‘why is only killing illegal and why giving birth isn’t.’ Meaning; people who have kids knowing that they can’t give them a life worth living should also be put into light. The very open and a blunt treatment to the story really made it bold as it is mentioned in the promos, and so makes it controversial for a few minds too.

The first half at some points was bit boring but was naturally because of the fact that story was still revealing itself at that time, otherwise the movie from the very first scene was a total rollercoaster ride and had people hooked to their seats.

Rating for the story and topic of the movie: [4.6 (Public) + 4 (GL) = 8.6/2] = 4.3/5 stars

Direction:

Commenting on the direction of Shoaib Mansoor would be a rather foolish thing, but still if we really put the film under magnifying glasses, you would feel as if you are watching a drama or some telefilm, this doesn’t go for the whole film, just a few particular scenes of the house where the entire family resides.

Apart from that, as everyone is commenting on the song of Iman Ali, we too found it to be a victim of haphazardness. This is so as we have already seen the similar work from Shoaib Mansoor in the past in the shape of song named Ishq Supreme – Anarkali, which no doubt was amazingly done. Furthermore many other Bollywood projects have similar dance sequences and after seeing them one realises how the director just missed putting the right feel into it.

                           Rating for movie direction: [4.6 (Public) + 4.2 (GL) = 8.8/2] = 4.4/5 stars

Quality: (Visual and sound) & Special effects if any:

The quality of the film was quite good if we compare it to other films of our country. The visuals were clear and the sound was also quite good. At some points, specially when camera went outside the house, particularly having Badshahi Masjid and other urban settings of the country in focus, one can clearly understand the cry of industry people for not having quality gadgets. The way old Lahore was captured in the camera, was really not at its best. But still we would give credit to the director for bringing best out of whatever resources he had.

One thing that seriously deserves a great appreciation is the background score of the movie which we found really very appealing, and of course the makers of the film deserve appreciation for it.

                              Rating for movie Quality: 4.6 (Public) + 4.2 (GL) = 8.8/2] = 4.4/5 stars

Movie Business (First Week)

The business of the film in its first released week has been outstanding. It collected 25 million in these six days and that’s a huge achievement for Pakistani film industry. This revenue collection even broke the record of Sharukh Khan’s “My Name is Khan”, which in its first week of release in Pakistan earned a total amount of about Rs. 22 Million.

The figures are increasing at a very fast pace and the movie has managed to attract a large amount of audience in its second week too. Another thing to take in consideration is that the movie is still to release in other parts of the world such as India,and so hopefully it will all end at a great point, setting up a trend for other upcoming films and filmmakers.

                                                               Rating for “Movie’s first week Business”: 5/5 stars

Overall Fan reviews for the Movie (first Week):

The movie was received with mostly positive reviews by fans and most of them stated it to meet their expectations after the mega hit “Khuda Kay Liyay”. However some are still angry about the final product and reviewed it in not so good comments. A very common point on which people pinpointed was that of film’s language, some even had objections on Shoaib Mansoor’s Anti-Mulla obsession. But still most of the people and specially families are satisfied with the product and praising the work of the filmmaker in very positive words.

                                      Rating for “Fan reviews for the movie” (Public rating only): 4.5/5 Stars

On the whole the film is something worth praising and the efforts of the director should be appreciated. Yes, some did find the film to be somewhat controversial but mostly the film is met with positive acceptance. If you have seen the film please do comment on the review, and if you have not yet seen it go catch it as soon as possible.

Final Rating:

Final Post Release Rating For Bol by Galaxy Lollywood: 4.4 Stars/5