Movie Name: The System

Release Date: 30 May 2014

Director: Shahzad Ghufoor

Review by: Momin Ali Munshi

Pakistan has sadly been divided into two very distinct groups of audiences and film-makers. On one hand you have the elite multiplex audience which enjoys social drama films like Bol, Chambaili, Josh etc which are mostly made by independent filmmakers. Then on the other hand you have the masses who love commercial/masala films like Ishq Khuda, Majajan, Shareeka which are mostly being made by our veterans. But the interesting thing to note here is that this divide ceases to exist when a commercial Bollywood flick like Dabangg or Ready comes about. Then both the single screen and multiplex audiences rush to the cinema halls to watch the film. Thus one wonders , why is this divide only present for our local content and seems to vanish when international (read Indian) content comes about.

But something interesting has been happening since the last year. Basically, this new group of filmmakers has decided to change the game. They have tried to make commercial films such that both the multiplex and the single screen audiences like them. Notable examples are “Main Hoon Shahid Afridi” and “Waar”. Both the films were commercial and appealed to single screen as well as the multiplex audience. 2014’s first film “The System” is another example of a similar experiment where the director Shehzad Ghufoor had decided to make a proper commercial film keeping in mind the demands of both the masses and the multiplexes audience. Seeing the first week box-office of the film, looks like this film has worked its magic and can be counted as a success which appealed to both the audiences. In this review I will tell what I liked and disliked about the film, so here goes. Lets start with the story.