MOVIE REVIEW
mOVIE rEVIEW:
‘BIN ROYE’
A
t most times, though, directors Momina Duraid
and Shahzad Kashmiri have struck an adequate
pace for the movie, refraining from letting scenes
drag and keeping the plot interesting. Bin Roye comes
candy-wrapped in shiny Karan Johar-esque foil, complete with a doting dadi, happy parents, strong family
values and enough moolah for our protagonists to have
grandiose weddings, make spur-of-the-moment trips to
the US and be clad head-to-toe in designer-wear. Yes,
the family does occasionally get balked by the odd death
or two but they are able to get over them miraculously
quickly...You couldn’t possibly know that this well-coiffured bunch lives in crime-ridden, loadshedding-struck
Karachi. And heck, who cares about power shortages
when there are dilemmas of the heart at hand?Mahira
Khan’s Saba is madly in love with her cousin Irtiza,
played by Humayun Saeed. She flirts with him coquettishly, makes him buy her bangles and ice-cream and
dances with him on Chaand Raat. The befuddled Irtiza,
however, fails to register these very obvious hints, considers her his very ‘good friend’ and on a trip to the US,
promptly proceeds to fall in love with another cousin, Saman, played by Armeena Rana Khan.In a twist of fate,
it is revealed that Saman is actually Saba’s sister and
a thunderstruck Saba watches helplessly as Irtiza falls
in love with her sister and marries her.The story veers
into complicated twists and turns and there are plenty of
tears and heartbreak leading up to ‘happily ever after’.
The movie is shot well, ricocheting from the cheerful colors of weddings and Eid to darker shades and shadows
in the second half. Sets are well-conceived, the cinematography is smooth and the plot is pure Mills & Boon.Mahira Khan possibly delivers her best performance to date
as Saba tries to master jealousy, rage, guilt and pain.
In one particularly riveting scene, she breaks her bangles when Irtiza ties the knot. Bin Roye is undoubtedly
Mahira’s movie. She’s featured in almost every scene
and she adroitly carries the plot through on her svelte
shoulders.Javed Sheikh and Zeba Bakhtiar are insipid
but adequate as the smiling archetypal parents who,
somehow, are too lost to realize what’s going on in their
daughter’s life. Armeena’s soft-spoken, inane Saman is
barely noticeable. Humayun Saeed is believable but a
trifle boring. He certainly looks older than his two young
heroines as the plot stresses, he’s ‘above the age of
30’. Perhaps a younger pairing would have looked better on-screen but Humayun acts well. He’s had years of
experience playing TV dramas’ favorite lover-boy and it
shows.Interspersed intelligently throughout the movie is
the very melodious soundtrack. Abida Parveen and Zeb
Bangash’s ‘Maula maula’ is hauntingly sad; Rahat Fateh
Ali Khan is at his soulful best with the romantic ‘Tere bina
jeena’ and the shaadi song ‘Balle balle’, guest-directed
by Asim Raza and featuring Adeel Hussain in a cameo, is foot-tapping fun.The plot could have been wittier
there is hardly any comic relief and the dialogues could
have been more interesting. The story could also have
been meatier had the makers made the effort to develop
shades to every character. Instead, the spotlight is on
the vivacious Saba; tousle-haired, bee-stung lipped,
Mahira looks naturally beautiful. Her wardrobe is one
of the movie’s high points as she brings the short shirt,
lacy short sleeves and baggy shalwar back in vogue and
turns on the glamour in Feeha Jamshed, Sania Maskatiya or Elan.In contrast, Armeena invariably wears clothes
that are far too blingy. She is overly made-up and looks
like she is going to a wedding, all the time. Humayun
Saeed looks good when in shalwar kameez and plain
silly at other times. In one scene he stands in sweltering Karachi, talking to his dadi as she buys plants for
the house, dressed in a coat. More logical styling could
have made the characters look better.But these are but
minor cribs against a movie that has been designed to
entertain, not provoke. Momina Duraid is a veteran at
filming intense love stories and she brings this talent
to play with her cinematic debut. Sure, the crying and
heartbreak can get tedious and the perpetually lovelorn
characters easily slot Bin Roye as a desi version of a
chick flick. But it’s a good one and interesting enough for
even men to sit through it.It’s also a sign of just how well
our cinema is faring on its quest for ‘revival’.
30 | BOOM