Film: Khel Khel Mein

Release Date: November 19, 2021

Director: Nabeel Qureshi

Review by: Hassan Hassan

When Sharmila Bose in her controversial book, ‘Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War’ tried to question the conventional version of the 71 war history, she met a proportionate backlash from the opponents and was accused of historical negationism and downplaying war crimes. Bose aptly defended her research saying the backlash is from people who have profited for so long from mythologizing the history of 1971.

Questioning and revisioning orthodox history is never an easy task. The chances of success are slim, to say the least. Translating alternative versions of the history on the silver screen is even more difficult, as it’s not just the arguments of the author that would matter but a whole lot of factors. Faltering of one element and the entire storytelling event could flounder.

Nabeel Qureshi’s directorial ‘Khel Khel Mein’, despite being a similar unconventional and daring attempt, with a release coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the fall of Dhaka, unfortunately, falls on its face before even it raises on its foot to attempt such questioning. 

Flawed Narrative

Without dishing out spoilers, the film follows a group of Pakistani students who are struggling to convince their college authorities to perform a theatre play at a cultural festival in Dhaka, that too based on the 1971 fall of Dhaka. Their aim is to quell the myths birthed by wrongly reported or exaggerated events in the aftermath of the country’s biggest tragedy in its history.

With an under-explored genre of storytelling, a youthful cast that could act and a seasoned director-producer duo who actually knew their craft, one would expect a cinematic experience guaranteeing a gripping and engaging screenplay, a rollercoaster ride of emotions and drama which could evoke a conversation about the rather forgotten part of our history. 

Unfortunately, the viewer is kept deprived of most of the above experiences and what we see is a half baked, hurriedly written event where you have to wait till the final “Khel” starts on the screen, which is saved for the last 15 minutes of the film. By this time, you have already lost your attention and interest because of the unnecessarily dragged and prolonged first half of the film. 

A good chunk of the film is wasted in the campus life, its official routine scenes and the boring audition sequences at the campus, in an attempt to add a comic angle to the narrative with the jokes that are anything but funny. Had the same time been utilised in exploring the characters and events in the second half, the results would have been strikingly different. The finale itself, though well-executed, is just not enough to save the boring and unnecessary sequences that span the majority of the run time and prevent the film from being an average cinematic experience. This is something you would not expect from the Nabeel-Fizza duo.

Rushed script

One could easily see that the script is written in a hurry, more like a task, where the makers were forced to meet certain deadlines. Nabeel-Fizza, generally known for swiftly completing their films yet never compromising on the most important part of their films; the script, can clearly be seen out of their game, especially in the script department, something which affects the entire film and would be the main cause if the film doesn’t work at the box office or resonate with national and international (Read Bengali and Indian) audiences.

Performance

While the attempt to humanise the Pakistani side of the war is well written and well-performed characters; Manzar Sehbai, Sameena Ahmad and even Sheheryar Munawar’s effective cameo, the film does exactly the opposite with its Bengali and Indian counterparts. The motive of Bilal Abbas Khan, Sajal Aly and other Pakistani students are very aptly and potently explained yet the Bengali and Indian characters are plain boring and extremely unidimensional. 

In one scene, Naveed Raza, who plays an Indian student and contestant asks a Pakistani student that he doesn’t look like a Pakistani, to which the latter responds by donning a cap and says the notorious word “Janab”, pointing to how Pakistanis are stereotyped in Bollywood films. 

The film however commits the same gaffe by stereotyping its Indian and Bengali characters, making them look like wooden cutouts and painting them with one brush. All the Bengalis speak in a particular accent and every Indian is a peace-hating or pissed off taunting individual who prefers to wear shirts with Hindu religious scripture on them. 

At the end of the film, the hostile Bangladeshi students are all hunky-dory with their Pakistani counterparts and the suddenness of the events become simply indigestible even for the most avid Pakistani cinema lovers who don’t mind jingoistic cinema. 

However, Bilal and Sajal both seem comfortable within their skin and look youthful and relatable. There could have been no better choices than these young actors for their respective roles. The new face, Hammad Sheikh playing a Baloch student is a promising find who can act and has a charming face. 

Lack Of Nuance

Apart from excellently portraying the plight of Pakistanis trapped in Bangladesh and the atrocities committed against them in the aftermath of the civil war, the film could have touched upon the political and military aspects of the tragedy by adding a political subplot from the current era and could have made the narrative stronger and magnetic. The mere mention of India and putting the blame on their military intervention makes the impact very superficial. The usual sly and intelligent humour of the production house, Filmwala Pictures, that involves current affairs and social media and the explosiveness of the ‘Actor in-Law’ and ‘Namaloom Afraad’ is missing.

Music

As for the music, except for “Nai Soch”, no song from the soundtrack stands out, another unusual for Filmwala Pictures. The background score however is commendable.

Positives 

There are a few more high moments in ‘Khel Khel Mein’. The Balochistan sequence is well shot and well-executed and provides a very honest introspection of the current situation in the province, as well as, what to do next to avoid tragedies like Dhaka Fall in the future.

The emotional scenes featuring the plight of Pakistanis trapped in erstwhile East Pakistan are no doubt engaging, gripping and tear-jerkers but not enough to salvage the rest of the mediocrity that engulfs much of the film. 

The final sequence where they bring the 71 events to the stage is perhaps one of the best parts of the film and this sequence alone can convey the Pakistani version of the tragedy very effectively even if used in isolation.

The sound design, cinematography and rest of the production values are as good as one would expect from a Nabeel Qureshi film. The portrayal of today’s Dhaka and the relevant art design is another commendable job the makers did in the film. 

The portrayal, however, remains confined to the slums and the lower-income parts of the city and not adding the metropolitan, fashionable and bustling parts to the visuals, is simply an injustice to the huge and historical city of Dhaka.

Final Word

‘Khel Khel Mein’ no doubt is a fresh offering when its subject matter is taken into consideration. The poorly written first half and the majority of the underwritten supporting characters make you feel as if the seasoned director-producer duo are considerably out of their game. Watch it for its dramatic portrayal of historic events, the final theatre sequence and if you are a fervent Pakistani cinema fan who could digest a certain level of jingoistic rhetoric.

Rating: 2.5/5