Review: ‘Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad’ is a thrilling watch but not Nabeel Qureshi's best

Film offers a very original daydream to end corruption but this daydream doesn't make 'QAZ' any more profound

KARACHI:

Since the inception of Dabangg, any cop movie feels incomplete without a few cliches; cars in the air, corrupt police officers, sunglasses and a moustache. Gelled back hair is optional but intense looks coupled with lame jokes are a must. And Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad (QAZ) ticks all the boxes when it comes to projecting these no-brainers.

However, unlike most potboilers, it also offers a very original daydream to end corruption and some introspection to go with. But this daydream is rather poorly weaved together onscreen, making Nabeel Qureshi and Fizza Ali Meerza’s latest a bit scattered. But that doesn't take away from it being an action-packed entertainer with a clear conflict, firm grip on premise and a wild ‘what-if’ card. What if the Quaid on your banknotes disappeared because you’ve been a bad boy? Sounds incredulous, doesn’t it? But it is this absurd idea that takes the film’s plot forward and brings it back full circle. What it doesn’t do, albeit, is make QAZ any more profound.

Starring Fahad Mustafa as Gulab, a corrupt cop with a golden heart and Mahira Khan as Jia, a veterinarian, animal rights activist and Gulab’s love interest, QAZ takes off with the former’s backstory.

Spoilers ahead!

A 10-year-old Gulab is seen listening to his father, Munir Mughal (young – played by Faiq Khan), who’s also an officer but an honest one, warn him about how the Quaid on our banknotes is watching us and may vanish if we upset him. As a little boy who trusts his dad, Gulab goes out to warn his friends about the same, only to return ridiculed and disappointed. Strangely, this one-time mockery serves as catalyst enough to propel Gulab into a life of felony. So much so, that not only does he grow up to threaten peddlers at the behest of VIPs for bribes, but he also stacks up his “hard-earned” moola behind a picture of Muhammad Ali Jinnah hanging in his bedroom.

The film delves into Fahad’s character rather tactlessly, making him appear gullible from beginning till the end. While watching a cool cop pass witty remarks and comic one-liners in Bollywood-ish action sequences is appealing, especially when filmmakers take inspiration from the likes of Rohit Shetty’s Singham, what prompts this cop to do what he does is not clear, especially when his motives are so easily interchanged.

While Gulab serves as a right-hand man for a dishonest senior officer and corrupt politician – played by Mehmood Aslam and Nayyer Ejaz – he portrays to be an honest, law-abiding citizen in front of his father (Qavi Khan) and Jia, both of whom soon learn about his reality. Things take a turn for the worse after the prior curses all the money Gulab’s jacked up through unfair means before dying of disappointment, bringing us back to his warning about Quaid, whose picture actually vanishes from the cash his son received as bribes.

Strangely again, Gulab’s father’s death does not impact him as deeply as a one-liner from his girlfriend, Jia, to whom he confesses his wrongdoings. Overnight, Gulab turns into a good cop, waking up to return all the money he’s ever wrongfully seized. Ambitious to right his wrongs, he even takes it upon himself to change the system by challenging the corrupt forces around him to change their ways too. Gulab’s impulsive and impressionable nature seems to get the best of him while his character arc only evolves at surface level.

Mahira’s character or its motivations, on the other hand, aren’t paid heed to. She is simply a catalyst for change for Gulab, who is the focus of QAZ. Yet, in the limited screen time she gets, Mahira carries Jia’s love for animals with passion. She is introduced rescuing a cat while putting her own life at stake and refuses to take assistance from officer Gulab, who is swept off of his feet upon witnessing her beauty and heroism. Independent, she isn’t your run-of-the-mill heroine, not in this film, as she gives Gulab a ride on her scooter upon their second meeting, and not because she’s interested in him.

At times, a firecracker and when required, a playful girl next door, Mahira is a charmer in QAZ and at no point in the film is she seen sobbing and crying for attention. She is, however, underutilised. But the decision to cast her as Jia was spot on.

Fahad’s performance, albeit, lacks in places. His crying at his father’s funeral and later, upon his remembrance, seems quite forced. The ingenious cop-logue is effectively delivered but the “log kya kahenge” at the end of every sentence feels jarring. Fahad is also not as convincing a cop as he is a salesman. Perhaps because of the way he talks and carries himself, or is made to carry himself. Gulab’s neatly tucked-in, fitted and finely ironed button-downs do not crease the slightest, even as Fahad runs, jumps and packs a punch. Not even a hair is out of place as he returns from a plane crash for a needless monologue and slap in a scene that could’ve been easily done without him.

On that note, the film could’ve done without a lot of scenes that should have instead been replaced by scenes that actually justified the way some things transpired. Case in point, Jia’s encounter with Rana Kamran (Nayyer Ejaz) at a traffic checkpoint does not explain how she comes to know about the wild lion he keeps in his house, which she protests against in a following scene.

Rana and corrupt senior officer Babar Jilani (Mehmood Aslam) heading to the Quaid Mazar to atone for their sins is a waste of precious time that could have easily been spent on elaborating on Rana's scheme to remove Quaid’s photo from the Pakistani currency. Unfortunately, that plot twist is brought in too late and abandoned too soon, used only to create panic in a media row which is followed by a mission to translocate the politician’s pile of cash.

The cinematography of QAZ is still relatively commendable, while it is directed with a natural attention to detail – minus Fahad’s corporate styling, of course. The screenplay, which is the backbone of any film, holds it together, except at a few junctures that do not seem to add up. All in all, QAZ is a thrilling watch that could have been so much better had it not been for the loop-holes and lacklustre storytelling.

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