My first token of appreciation for this brilliant masterpiece is for Shoaib Mansoor and the reason for this remains the splendid understanding of story-telling, script, editing and direction shown by this talented director in his latest offering BOL.
Here I would especially like to praise the promotional campaign of the film, which never revealed anything about the movie and its powerful storyline. And that really works in the favour of the film since it literally grabs you with a new surprise every half an hour and leaves you simply stunned looking at the proceedings on the screen.
The moment it started off, only the first five minutes of BOL showed me the sparks of a well made film coming ahead. But admittedly I never expected such a great exceptional work from the director, boldly written around some burning issues of our society. Just the first half an hour and its developments make you sit straight on your seat realizing the huge power of its daring content. The actors go deep into the skin of their characters and the dialogues work like a sharp edged sword swung right in your direction as a 3D film. For instance, lines such as, "Aap mard hain na, Jahan lajawab hue, Wahan haath chala diye", are thrown at the viewer in every 10 minutes of the film which never let you take your eyes and ears off the screen.
To be precise, the film mainly talks about the very disturbing issue of THE UNWANTED GIRL CHILD in our part of the world. But I can easily assure you, that you can never even imagine how this hard black truth of our society has been portrayed by the director and his team in BOL. In straight words, it has sequences tackling the issue, which we have never seen before in our Indian or Pakistan Cinema.
In broader terms, BOL can be divided into two parts looking at the same important issue from two distinctive angles in its two halves. And mark my words; both these halves will give you many severe shocks and shivers running down your spines, through its impactful well shot sequences, which will leave you completely speechless with your mind jammed. In fact, I am still surprised that how a film like BOL wasn't opposed and got its clearance to be released in Pakistan a few weeks before. The director surely deserves all the praises showered upon him in the various festivals to show such courage and will to make a hugely EXPLOSIVE film on this sensitive issue with such an amazing conviction. His KHUDA KAY LIYE was also good, but with BOL he even surpasses his own set standards of quality cinema taking many huge giant leaps in the world of Film-making.
Giving you an insightful glimpse of the film, I would like to remind you of one simple scientific fact which is now widely known in the educated section of our society about the girl child. Till ages, our society kept blaming the women for giving birth to a Girl Child whereas in reality it's the male who is actually responsible for the child to be a boy or a girl.
Now, you must have seen this fact being represented in our films in different ways at regular intervals in the past. But, I will not hesitate here in saying that BOL uses this fact in its narration LIKE NEVER EVER BEFORE by any film-maker in the history of Indian or Pakistan Cinema (in its second half). The film simply leaves you with your jaws wide opened, the moment the fact gets interpreted on the screen in its unique way.
Before BOL, whenever the issue of GIRL CHILD was discussed, I always used to recommend Shyam Benegal's masterpiece HARI BHARI to all as a must watch. But now I would love to recommend BOL along with HARI BHARI to everyone who is willing to think about this issue from many new and distinctive angles as a responsible citizen.
To sum up, BOL has two more merits in its list which do need a special mention here in the review. Despite of the fact that BOL is a grim movie based on a dark subject, the beauty of this well crafted gem is that does end on a very positive note, reminding us all of two great four letter words called LOVE and HOPE. Its beautiful climax reminds us that its not the end of the world yet and we can still become the much needed change ourselves before it becomes too late.
And last but not the least, apart from its superlative & thought provoking direction, BOL just hits you at the right place largely due to its well chosen cast, where every character acts and speaks exactly like both the good & bad people living around us in the real life. The Urdu- Punjabi language mix and its perfect use throughout the film, takes you into another world of love, lust, sex, betrayal and greed, giving you a taste of the cruel LIFE as it actually is in the real mean world of existence.
For viewers, who are thinking that it's a Pakistani film, for them, I would like to state that BOL very courageously talks about the Universal Pain of a MOTHER and her unwanted child. And as per my own understanding the word MOTHER doesn't need any kind of classification of some man-made borders and language to express her pain.
In short, BOL is one of those rare perfect films made in this new century which needs to be watched by every man and woman living both in India and Pakistan as a must.
And as the western critics quote, "It would be a CRIME to miss BOL".
