Written, directed and co-produced by Aziz Jindani, the animated feature has strong political undertones that may delight adults and confuse kids.
Karachi : Intriguing people with its tongue and cheek, The Donkey King had been creating a lot of hype prior to its release. One, it was coming as an animation, still a fairly rare genre for Pakistani cinema and two, it put a donkey – a commonly ridiculed beast of burden – at its core, which was presumably political. Even before watching the film, people know the film would be an animation for children as well as adults.
Written, directed and co-produced by Aziz Jindani – the brains behind Pakistan’s first superhero Commander Safeguard – The Donkey King premiered in Karachi on Friday. A very bright animated set welcomed several celebrities, who attended the event along with their kids. One spotted popular actors Faysal Quraishi, Fahad Mustafa, Ahsan Khan as well as talk show hosts Hamid Mir and Shahzeb Khanzada, filmmaker Saqib Malik and Sunita Marshal aside from the film’s voice artists Afzal Khan (Jan Rambo), Ghulam Mohiuddin, Mani, Faisal Qureshi, Ahsan Rahim and others.
As the name suggests, the story of The Donkey King revolves around a donkey named Mangu who is never taken seriously and accidentally becomes king, something he had never imagined. Mangu dreams big but always surrenders to life and its hardships when reminded of his descent. He dreams of becoming rich, having a car of his own with the love of his life sitting next to him and much more. A stroke of good fortune (or political maneuvering) lands him as the king of his kingdom, Azad Nagar. Simple as he is, Mangu understands what it means to be a king only when he learns the true colours of people in his surroundings. Whether he remains a king or loses the power and position is something viewers will know when they watch the film, which is running in cinemas across Pakistan.
Technically, the film’s animation was above-average albeit there was room for improvement. The songs, especially ‘Donkey Raja’, were catchy and the dialogues were simple but funny. Coming to voice artists, Afzal Khan (aka as Jan Rambo) was commendable as Mangu, Hina Dilpazeer as Miss Fitna was a bit overrated while Ghulam Mohiuddin as Badshah Khan outshined many others.
Having solid anthropomorphic value, The Donkey King makes strong references to some political figures in Pakistan and this is where the film confuses viewers. Themes like democracy, freedom of speech, role of media and TRPs, etc. make it severely political and the film’s tagline, ‘a fun film for all ages,’ doesn’t quite apply. While it will entertain kids given the human-like animal characters, the colourful setting and catchy music, the kids will not be able to comprehend the hidden meaning behind some politically-charged dialogues and characters.
“The basic moral of the film is that Mangu is born a donkey but he refuses to live and die like one,” Aziz Jindani shared the moral of the story with Instep post the film’s premiere in Karachi. “Then in between, the content is designed in such a way that it speaks to the kids but the intention is that it keeps on winking at the adults. That is a very deliberate attempt.”
When asked about his expectations from the film in terms of business, he replied, “People are happy with the film, they liked it.
The characters are endearing. I expect that they can live beyond the film. And the monetary aspect follows; if Mangu can become an iconic character who has a life outside the film then I think the revenue model changes completely.”
