Yalghaar review: bullets, bombs and bad storytelling
Rana’s choice to write, direct, shoot, edit and star in his own film reflects in the sloppiness of the final product
PHOTO: FILE
Shaan is trying to get a confession out of a terrorist and it’s not working. He talks to him, tortures him and when nothing works, shoots the terrorist down. “Did he just shoot him,” asks a rather confused Ayesha Khan outside the interrogation room. “You’ve gotta break some eggs to make an omelette,” responds Hamza Ali Abbasi as they nod in agreement.
I am referring to this epic moment from Waar not because it was a spiritual predecessor to Yalghaar , I am mentioning it because of the omelette. The omelette batter that was concocted in Waar almost hits the fry pan in Yalghaar when the big bad Tor Jan (Humayun Saeed) grabs one of his goons by the crotch and threatens to make an “omelette” out of it.
Why 'Yalghaar' is Humayun Saeed’s most challenging film yet
Quite savage I must say and profoundly thematic. Sadly enough, Tor Jan doesn’t proceed further. The goon takes a sigh of relief and the legend of the omelette continues, trumping everything else that Yalghaar pretends to be.
On an afterthought, this film actually reminded me of the omelette I cook. Chock-full of layers that never settle, veggies are thrown in randomly to make it look more inclusive, all masala jars available are tested (because why not), flip it only when it smells like it’s been roasted pertinently on one side. And here goes the recipe for the omelette I end up having on behalf of everyone else. Come on, at least my intention was to feed everybody.
Similarly, Hasan Waqas Rana’s first outing as director has its heart in the right place. He wants people to be aware of what an average soldier goes through in order to serve his country while taking care of his friends, love life and family. Indeed it’s a difficult choice to make, particularly with a country like Pakistan where soldiers are engaged on two different fronts with two different kinds of enemies— external and internal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMChnlTkEdM
‘Yalghaar’ trailer is out but does it look better than 'Waar'?
However, the film deals with this dilemma quite childishly, wasting both, the time of the viewer and a concept that if done right had the potential to wake up the sleeping giant that the Eid box-office can be. But it won’t connect, neither with the masses nor the classes.
Col Asad (Shaan) from Special Services Group of Pakistan army (SSG) is leading a mission to rescue Col Jogezai (Ayub Khoso) who is in terrorist captivity. Asad along with his team, comprising Capt Bilal (Bilal Ashraf), Capt Umair (Umair Jaswal) and few other SSG specialists drop over the enemy installment. Under the leadership of the suave and seasoned Asad, they take down enemies in an operation that is more 'Medal of Honour' in its execution than Behind Enemy Lines, with stunning visual aid creating base for something truly incredible.
However, that something never happens. Rana’s chronic problem of forcing English dialogues comes in the way for sure, as most of the actors ‘struggle to keep it real’. Particularly when the dialogues move beyond jargons such as “Three tangos down,” and take shape of the banter that is certainly more absurd than comical.
Like all good things, the operation comes to an end in the first 15-20 minutes. We are now introduced to Tor Jan who has forced one of his followers (Gohar Rasheed) to go and slit the throat of one of his friends on the day of his wedding, leaving his wife Zarmina ( Ayesha Omar) at Tor Jan’s mercy. Tor Jan carries her on his shoulder to the cave where her arrival is welcomed like spoils of war. He doesn’t kill her, he doesn’t abuse her; he scares her.
Ayesha Omar vs Sana Bucha: One slayed while the other got slayed
He doesn’t have links to particular terrorist outfits neither is his ethnic upbringing as vividly explained, all we know is that he is a bad guy who does bad things for the heck of it. It does create some confusion in the viewers who are expecting it to be an army versus a religious extremist outfit tale but it’s not, and in the hindsight it may have just saved Rana from the cultural inaccuracies that Waar was flooded with.
And Humayun makes the most out of it; or whatever was there to have. A monologue he delivers towards the end of it is one to look out for both, Humayun’s execution and its intellectual content.
In the middle of these two obvious sides of good and bad are families and love interests that instead of adding emotional value to the film take away from all the action. Neither of the much-talented supporting ladies such as Armeena Khan, Uzma Khan, Atiya Khan fall into place.
Don’t worry, I haven’t told you the story. In fact I don’t even know if there’s one consistent story to talk about; just a bunch of incomplete caricatures trying to function as a whole and failing at it. The romance is both pretentious and distracting and the action is simply bland and repetitive. Save for a handful of sequences, Yalghaar puts you in a rock and a hard place situation. Rana’s choice to write, direct, shoot, edit and star in his film reflects in the sloppiness of the final product, with every frame oozing tiredness instead of dedication.
Just because you’re emotional about a subject doesn’t mean you’ll tell a great story about it. This is one major take home for all the Pakistani directors gearing up for the big screen. With Polo matches and English army jargons, Yalghaar seems more like a flick made to feed a fascination with the posh side of the army lifestyle and less a film about soldiers and what they go through.
Pakistan's first superhero movie 'Project Ghazi's first teaser looks fierce!
The human element is either way too shallow or too disjunctive to make it into a thorough depiction of the human condition at war, where so much more is at stake. Like a poet who consistently fails in love to write tales of failed romance, Rana romances with the army lifestyle in a similar way; it’s just that his expression is not clear yet. Poetry, prose or picture, one thing’s for sure that Waar was a complete film and Yalghaar unfortunately doesn’t even come close to that.
However, the film only ends up shaking you during the closing credits when the pictures of APS victims and other victims of terrorism are played on the backdrop of an emotionally penned song composed by Xulfi. Shafqat Amanat Ali’s take on his father’s Ae Watan Pyaray Watan was a really smart choice for the film as well but too much reverb on the audio killed it for me.
While I was walking out of the Islamabad premiere, too many ‘what ifs’ came to my mind. What if they had decided a clear protagonist between Bilal and Shaan? What if there was more to their backstories? What if the film was written in Urdu? And then I finally concluded that no matter how hard you try, you’re not gonna be able to break (down) the egg that Yalghaar is; hardboiled to the core with no hope of taste or texture.
The film releases in Pakistani cinemas on Eidul Fitr.
Rating: 1.5/5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki-inDlVlmo
Have something to add in the story? Share it in the comments below.
I am referring to this epic moment from Waar not because it was a spiritual predecessor to Yalghaar , I am mentioning it because of the omelette. The omelette batter that was concocted in Waar almost hits the fry pan in Yalghaar when the big bad Tor Jan (Humayun Saeed) grabs one of his goons by the crotch and threatens to make an “omelette” out of it.
Why 'Yalghaar' is Humayun Saeed’s most challenging film yet
Quite savage I must say and profoundly thematic. Sadly enough, Tor Jan doesn’t proceed further. The goon takes a sigh of relief and the legend of the omelette continues, trumping everything else that Yalghaar pretends to be.
On an afterthought, this film actually reminded me of the omelette I cook. Chock-full of layers that never settle, veggies are thrown in randomly to make it look more inclusive, all masala jars available are tested (because why not), flip it only when it smells like it’s been roasted pertinently on one side. And here goes the recipe for the omelette I end up having on behalf of everyone else. Come on, at least my intention was to feed everybody.
Similarly, Hasan Waqas Rana’s first outing as director has its heart in the right place. He wants people to be aware of what an average soldier goes through in order to serve his country while taking care of his friends, love life and family. Indeed it’s a difficult choice to make, particularly with a country like Pakistan where soldiers are engaged on two different fronts with two different kinds of enemies— external and internal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMChnlTkEdM
‘Yalghaar’ trailer is out but does it look better than 'Waar'?
However, the film deals with this dilemma quite childishly, wasting both, the time of the viewer and a concept that if done right had the potential to wake up the sleeping giant that the Eid box-office can be. But it won’t connect, neither with the masses nor the classes.
Col Asad (Shaan) from Special Services Group of Pakistan army (SSG) is leading a mission to rescue Col Jogezai (Ayub Khoso) who is in terrorist captivity. Asad along with his team, comprising Capt Bilal (Bilal Ashraf), Capt Umair (Umair Jaswal) and few other SSG specialists drop over the enemy installment. Under the leadership of the suave and seasoned Asad, they take down enemies in an operation that is more 'Medal of Honour' in its execution than Behind Enemy Lines, with stunning visual aid creating base for something truly incredible.
However, that something never happens. Rana’s chronic problem of forcing English dialogues comes in the way for sure, as most of the actors ‘struggle to keep it real’. Particularly when the dialogues move beyond jargons such as “Three tangos down,” and take shape of the banter that is certainly more absurd than comical.
Like all good things, the operation comes to an end in the first 15-20 minutes. We are now introduced to Tor Jan who has forced one of his followers (Gohar Rasheed) to go and slit the throat of one of his friends on the day of his wedding, leaving his wife Zarmina ( Ayesha Omar) at Tor Jan’s mercy. Tor Jan carries her on his shoulder to the cave where her arrival is welcomed like spoils of war. He doesn’t kill her, he doesn’t abuse her; he scares her.
Ayesha Omar vs Sana Bucha: One slayed while the other got slayed
He doesn’t have links to particular terrorist outfits neither is his ethnic upbringing as vividly explained, all we know is that he is a bad guy who does bad things for the heck of it. It does create some confusion in the viewers who are expecting it to be an army versus a religious extremist outfit tale but it’s not, and in the hindsight it may have just saved Rana from the cultural inaccuracies that Waar was flooded with.
And Humayun makes the most out of it; or whatever was there to have. A monologue he delivers towards the end of it is one to look out for both, Humayun’s execution and its intellectual content.
In the middle of these two obvious sides of good and bad are families and love interests that instead of adding emotional value to the film take away from all the action. Neither of the much-talented supporting ladies such as Armeena Khan, Uzma Khan, Atiya Khan fall into place.
Don’t worry, I haven’t told you the story. In fact I don’t even know if there’s one consistent story to talk about; just a bunch of incomplete caricatures trying to function as a whole and failing at it. The romance is both pretentious and distracting and the action is simply bland and repetitive. Save for a handful of sequences, Yalghaar puts you in a rock and a hard place situation. Rana’s choice to write, direct, shoot, edit and star in his film reflects in the sloppiness of the final product, with every frame oozing tiredness instead of dedication.
Just because you’re emotional about a subject doesn’t mean you’ll tell a great story about it. This is one major take home for all the Pakistani directors gearing up for the big screen. With Polo matches and English army jargons, Yalghaar seems more like a flick made to feed a fascination with the posh side of the army lifestyle and less a film about soldiers and what they go through.
Pakistan's first superhero movie 'Project Ghazi's first teaser looks fierce!
The human element is either way too shallow or too disjunctive to make it into a thorough depiction of the human condition at war, where so much more is at stake. Like a poet who consistently fails in love to write tales of failed romance, Rana romances with the army lifestyle in a similar way; it’s just that his expression is not clear yet. Poetry, prose or picture, one thing’s for sure that Waar was a complete film and Yalghaar unfortunately doesn’t even come close to that.
However, the film only ends up shaking you during the closing credits when the pictures of APS victims and other victims of terrorism are played on the backdrop of an emotionally penned song composed by Xulfi. Shafqat Amanat Ali’s take on his father’s Ae Watan Pyaray Watan was a really smart choice for the film as well but too much reverb on the audio killed it for me.
While I was walking out of the Islamabad premiere, too many ‘what ifs’ came to my mind. What if they had decided a clear protagonist between Bilal and Shaan? What if there was more to their backstories? What if the film was written in Urdu? And then I finally concluded that no matter how hard you try, you’re not gonna be able to break (down) the egg that Yalghaar is; hardboiled to the core with no hope of taste or texture.
The film releases in Pakistani cinemas on Eidul Fitr.
Rating: 1.5/5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki-inDlVlmo
Have something to add in the story? Share it in the comments below.