BOOM July | Página 12

ARTICLE Humayun Saeed and Mahira fall flat in Bin Roye’s music vids. What went wrong? W hile upcoming film Bin Roye's trailer left us wanting more, the teasers for songs from the feature film are a testament to the expression 'be careful what you wish for'.Bin Roye is a tragic story about love, hate, sorrow and how our worst colours come out when we don't get the things we want. We couldn't deduce much about the plot from the trailer or the music videos except for the fact that Humayun Saeed's character's name is Irtaza.Dubbed a music-driven movie, it has some big names behind its soundtrack, such as Abida Parveen and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, to name a few.Eager fans have been given a sneak preview of two songs from the movie, Ballay Ballay and Tere Bin Jeena. Maybe it's because the movie, which will also be turned into a television show for HUM, has been in the pipeline for so long that everyone's expectations have sky-rocketed.I can't speak for everyone else but I was disappointed. So what exactly do Bin Roye's music videos get wrong? Identity crisis: Is Ballay Ballay an item number, a wedding dance song or a commercial? The video for Ballay Ballay features your typical song and dance performed at a mehndi. One would assume a girl in a lehnga choli dancing on a stage = item number, right? Wrong! Not when it's the beloved Mahira.Sohai Ali Abro performs her latest single from Wrong Number, Selfiyan in a similar set-up. Compared to Mahira in Ballay Ballay she shows off a bit more of her navel, coupled with dimmer lighting which has led us to call her an item girl, which makes me wonder: What makes an item number an item number? Just the lighting? Or the amount of skin you show?Well, you'd assume it's the latter but it seems like that's not the case. Take Zhalay Sarhadi's Jawani from Jalaibee — She showed even less skin than Mahira but because the movie's theme was grittier, the song had slightly more racy lyrics and the atmosphere was grimy, that was categorized as an item number.Just because Bin Roye comes off like a high-definition glitzy Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Mahira is excused from that label.Maybe it's because the song's too wholesome to be an item number anyway. The main aim of an item number is to entertain and this failed to do just that. The beat isn't catchy, the lyrics are boring and the choreography is all over the place; We see better performances at mehndis these days so celebrities need to step up their game.I, for one, am curious to see if Hamza Ali Abbasi has anything to say about it. He is the king of deciphering what an item number is, after all! I guess we'll know in due time.Somehow, I don't see this being the IT song of the summer wedding season.However, I can totally imagine Mahira and Adeel breaking out teacups at the end, in typical Tapal style. Commercial it is! Is our favourite leading lady to blame? Clad in a stunning Feeha Jamshed ensemble (probably the only redeeming quality of the entire song!), Mahira Khan looks chirpy and happy... as usual.Mahira has established herself as the girl next door and it looks like she has no qualms about sticking to that image. While the trailer didn't promise us anything much different, I was still hoping for more; more oomph, more spunk from her, just more.Perhaps that's why the little exchange in the beginning with Adeel Hussain falls flat; can we really digest her flirting? I'm afraid Khan has pigeon-holed herself into a quintessential goody two shoes an