As the name suggests, Dekh Magar Pyaar Say is a debut Romcom by Asad-ul-Haq; who is famous for his work in the field of commercial advertisement. The movie has multiple plot twists, fine cast and good music.
Story:
The movie starts off with Sikki (Sikander Rizvi, also a debutant) screwing up the task of escorting his chacha’s (played by Irfan Khoosat) wife to be. Instead, Sikki mistakenly brings home Ainee (Humaima Malick).
As they’re en route to their destination on a Rickshaw, the film portrays the exquisitely illuminated and decorated streets of old Lahore. During this journey, Sikki falls in love with Ainee. The story seems quite simple, where a guy goes crazy over a girl and becomes a boy-toy to the flaunting appeal of the chick; as indicated by Ainee’s dialogue “Pata hai, main tum se kuch bhi karwa sakti hun.”, but it has more than one twists to it. The storyline had its gripping moments but the sudden shifts and fragmentation made it lose the attention of the viewers.
The real off-putting thing was that despite having a vast ‘star presence’ in the film, it just fails to register in the minds of the audience. The main reason was the disconnected storyline. The story keeps shifting between being slow and fast paced. Just when the audience is about to get curious about what happens next, the event ends and another scene starts.
Acting:
As far as the performance is concerned, Humaima being a pioneer at acting, could have done a lot better. Even though she kept overshadowing the other main characters, her acting couldn’t even reach a certain level of mediocrity. There were scenes where her act dropped; for example in the scene at workshop, where she was being held by Sikki.
Debutant Sikander Rizvi tried giving his best at acting. He often tried so hard and his effort was quite visible, only a few scenes were executed by him in a smooth manner. Irfan Khoosat, famous for his comic roles in the industry, played a goon and didn’t fail to make the audience laugh. But honestly, considering his potential, his talents were not utilized to the fullest. Aqdas Waseem performed the parody roles of characters from Bollywood and Lollywood but the only one he could pull off in a somewhat successful manner was of our very own Lollywood legend, Maula Jutt.
Cameos done by Humayun Saeed, HSY and Meera were a real treat to watch. Although the cameos didn’t last for more than 5 minutes, they managed to cheer the audience.
Script:
I’m sure anyone who goes for this film, will develop a dislike for the script. Basically because a lot of them were idioms from Punjabi language and overly used dialogues from Bollywood like ‘Koi doubt mat rakhna’ (we all know where that came from). I’m all in for the promotion of our local languages, but that wasn’t the proper way of doing it. Half of the quotes from Punjabi were wasted on the titles for the sections that the whole film was divided into. And it doesn’t end there, being a Punjabi, I was able to spot a few mistakes in the pronunciations as well; Nawi Punjabi bolni sikhi aey, Sohneya?
Direction and Cinematography and creativity:
Asad-ul-Haq’s take at direction turned out quite well. With BAFTA award winning Nic Knowland on the team, the camera work and angles were really good. Ambiance during the first half of the film was bursting with colours, while the second half was all corporate-ish. But the continuity between the parts was a little abrupt.
The music videos were directed in a perfect manner; especially the B&W one, which takes you on a dramatic retro-nostalgic ride through Lahore.
HSY, the internationally acclaimed designer, was chosen as the creative directive for the film and this made the characters really stand out. I absolutely fell in love with the dresses he designed, especially the suits worn by Sikander at the end.
When working on movies, dressing is usually a neglected part of the whole thing, but the striking Lehngas and suits used in this film will make the people want to go get themselves an HSY outfit for sure.
Music:
As the film has some of the best Pakistani musicians overboard, music is probably the finest part about it. Dekh Magar Pyaar Say has to offer quite a unique variety of music, ranging from a cover of the original Tumhein Dillagi by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to EDM mixes by Talal Qureshi. The title track has been done by Asrar. Other than that, Soch the band’s powerful vocals and beautiful music makes you want to watch the musical sections on repeat.
Listen: Dekh Magar Pyaar Say Movie Songs (Full Original Soundtrack)
Other musicians include Mooroo with his hit Tasveer, Sara Haider with Tauba Tauba, Khush Ashi and Fire Tiger.
Background score:
Regardless of the fact that the film had quality music, it made me sad how none of the tracks were used to the fullest. Sound effects lacked smooth transition. Dramatic music would start, and just when it started building up emotions, the music would disappear; making the audience raise eyebrows over what just happened. Seriously guys, even the Indian tele-soaps have better synchronization and transitions in the score.
Story: 1/5
Direction: 2.5/5
Acting: 1.5/5
Music: 3.5/5
Creativity: 2.5/5
Emotions: 1/5
Overall score: 2
Review written by: Abdul Wahab
