Movie Name: Chalay Thay Saath
Release Date: April 21, 2017
Director: Umer Adil
Review by: Momin Ali Munshi
Firstly, apologies for the extremely late review. I think this is probably a record of some kind as far as online reviews are concerned so yay us! But honestly, we are really sorry for not being that active on the blog for the last few weeks. However, now we are back and let’s kickstart things with this review, which may be quite pointless given that the film is not even playing in cinemas anymore but nonetheless here is a brief review.
The film opens with young doctor Resham ( Syra Shahroz) who introduces the audiences to the main characters of the film and with that starts the journey of Chalay Thay Saath where we meet friends Zain (Osama Tahir), Tanya (Mansha Pasha) and Faraz (Faris Khalid) who are all travelling up north to Resham’s hometown. Zain and Tanya are a married couple on the brink of a divorce while Faraz is a fresh return from the US and a happy go lucky kind of a guy. Joining these four friends on their trip are two strangers, one an elder woman traveling alone for the first time and of course the guest from China Adam (Kent S Leung). Also somewhere along the journey, they meet divorcee (Zhalay Sarhadi) who has a romantic track with Faraz.
The main issue as always with Pakistani films is that of a weak screenplay. The pacing of the film is questionable where nothing seems to be moving at times, and then everything happens in a jiffy. Furthermore, without going into much detail, the story has quite a few loopholes which question your sanity at times. In all honesty, the film would have been better off had the director just focused on the Syra- Kent story and done away with the supporting actors and their half-baked tracks because their arcs were not well developed and they just took away from the main plot. The acting was great but there was not much to do!
But despite all this when you leave the cinema hall, you have a smile on your face and the reason for that is a powerful climax and generally the likeability that the film and its characters have. As briefly mentioned earlier, the acting department of the film is strong and all actors give an applaud worthy performance. It was pleasantly surprising to see such great performances by new actors. A special mention here for Syra Shahroz and Behroz Sabzawari who make the climax what it is!
The music of the film is another plus point. Jeep Racey, Mariam, Khalis Makhan all songs are a great addition to the film, with the first two being particularly uplifting. Although its not a conventional film soundtrack but it’s definitely one of the stronger ones we have seen recently.
The film has been shot beautifully as is evident from the promos itself. The director Umer Adil really knows how to use the camera to his advantage! Only if the editing and the script had been a bit crisper the film would have been much better. Nonetheless, the actors share a great chemistry, the film has its moments and the whole the feel good film deserves a watch. (Maybe buy a DVD given its no more playing in cinemas)
