There are good films and there are bad films. And then there is Hijrat, which is simply not a film. It looked like an extended TV drama (no offence to TV dramas) with good looking people who try desperately to act but fail. It’s a project in which even the biggest of acting giants seem small; where nothing seems to be going in the right direction and where there seems to be no direction. Maybe that’s why the name is Hijrat!
Rabia Butt, who plays a doctor at a Muhajir camp, looks completely out of place and fails to meet the expectations surrounding her acting debut.
InstepREVIEW
Hijrat fails to make any positive impact on cinegoers.
There are good films and there are bad films. And then there is Hijrat, which is simply not a film. It looked like an extended TV drama (no offence to TV dramas) with good looking people who try desperately to act but fail. It’s a project in which even the biggest of acting giants seem small; where nothing seems to be going in the right direction and where there seems to be no direction. Maybe that’s why the name is Hijrat!
Murad (Asad Zaman) is a free-spirited guy, who lives in Istanbul, Turkey with his ailing mother (Zeb Rehman). She sends him to Pakistan, where he meets his lost love Jia (Rabia Butt) and decides to marry her. But there is a twist in the tale. His mother has selected Mehreen (Rubab Ali) as his bride, back in Istanbul, and he has to choose whether to follow his heart or his mother’s wish. There is also a father (Jamal Shah) who returns to take care of his wife in his son’s absence. It is the son’s life that the film centers around and even though the film is set in a Muhajir camp (we were as confused as you) it doesn’t impress at all.
Jamal Rahman, who essays the role of Asad Zaman’s father, is wasted in a nondescript role despite his credentials.
One reason why it doesn’t impress is that the doctors, Mahjabeen Habib and Rabia Butt don’t look like doctors at all; they look like out-of-place models. The clothes they (the girls and the hero) wear are too fashionable for camps. Veteran TV actress Azra Aftab is wasted in the role of a pagli who causes a landmine explosion later in the film; the difference between this explosion and a real one is that you can witness a real one; the one on screen was conveniently not shown. Instead of a flashback, Nadeem sahib’s character narrates the story of his son whereas Jamal Shah, Durdana Butt and Zeb Rehman are wasted in nondescript roles. There are some scenes which give the feeling of a film but they are far, few and scattered. Even the presence of Ali Azmat and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan in the soundtrack fails to stop this film from sinking to the bottom of the chart.
And then there are the dialogues. Films like Shahzad Nawaz’s Chambaili and the recently banned Maalik by Ashir Azeem stood out because of their dialogues. Compared to them Hijrat seems like an animated film for kids because it has dialogues like ‘Mama aap ne mujh se cheating ki hai’ (very intellectual), ‘Tell me. Tell me kia baat hai’ (very inquisitive), ‘Kia Jia, Murad ko Maheen say bhi zyada pyar karti hai?’ (million dollar question), ‘Kia tum us say bohat pyar karte ho? (the breakup question) and ‘Kaash mere paas aisi karwi goli hoti keh main insaan kay andar keh haiwan ko badal sakta’ (the wishful question). On top of all that, there is a character named Zain who plays the hero’s friend and in order to get noticed, tries to copy the most looked down upon actor in Bollywood – Uday Chopra.
Director Farooq Mengal may have substantial television experience but making a film is a different ball game altogether and he fails miserably in the new arena. Directors migrating from TV must understand that the viewer is paying to watch the film unlike TV, where they watch a drama or a long play for free. It demands a stronger script and better performances and needs to be shot differently.
Hijrat had potential but it wasn’t utilized; there were just too many reasons for it to fail. Weak acting, poor storytelling as well as cinematography, unfortunate dubbing and item numbers that fell between being gross and being cheap, are just some of the reasons. It is a pity that this film happened to be Zeb Rehman’s comeback after the fantastic Bol; that Nadeem sahib returned to the big screen with this film; that the handsome Asad Zaman was wasted in a romantic role when he clearly seems more inclined towards action. Model-turned-actress Rabia Butt tried her best to save the film but she didn’t rise to expectations either.
If you haven’t watched the film or were lucky enough to miss it, consider yourself blessed.
