syed hasnain

Technically it’s a quantum leap not merely a step. The cinematography and more importantly the sound editing and design surpass Bollywood and South Indian movies against which it will invariably be compared. But unlike our neigbor, here the technology has not taken over the narrative. Which is good. But I do wish they would have stayed loyal to the original 1979 ending. The story at times appeared to be too impressed by spagatti westerns from 60s and 70’s. Moreover Mahira Khan’s role was undercooked. And she appeared a bit out of synch. Much has been made of Humaima Malik’s role but let’s not forget Saima Baluch who plays the kidnapped girls role. She nailed the three scenes she got with minimal dialogues. The violence at times is excessive and could have been toned down. My biggest fear is that now that the film makers have tasted success overseas, more and more movies will be catered to their taste just like Bollywood is doing. All said it was a remarkable effort and a conventional story made larger than life.

There are bad movies that are so bad that they become cult movies over time. J Lo does have a few of them in her closet that she keeps locked and has probably lost the key. Unfortunately shot gun wedding doesn’t even fall in this category. It is extremely unfunny and cliche ridden movie that plays on stereotypes the West has created against people it perceives as less civilized. There has become a recent trend in Hollywood to portray tourist destinations especially in Far and South East Asia as extremely dangerous with rebels, outlaws and renegades holding innocent tourists as hostages with no local law enforcement even remotely involved or interested and the savior has to be a white American by default. In the recent release “ Plane”, it’s a similar scenario where a plane has crash landed in a remote Philippine island governed by outlaws who take all passengers hostage and Gerald Butler (playing the role of their pilot ) has to fight it out. But at least Plane playing safe had a Korean playing second fiddle to Butler’s gruff demeanor and a black convict being repatriated to US who happens to have a heart of gold. In Shot Gun Wedding also based in Philippine there was no such perceived balance. The dialogues were pedestrian e.g “ Are you dead”. Characters were ashamedly borrowed probably asked the cast to come up with their own dialogues. It’s a shame that after exhausting Afghanistan and Middle East Hollywood has decided to target poor vulnerable nations portraying them in the worst possible light.