Khuda Kay Liye

he three stars are for the film’s theme and ambition, the fact that it takes on religious fundamentalism, raises contentious issues in Islam and the many misperceptions about it in the West, especially in the wake of 9/11. It’s no doubt a brave move forward for the Pakistani film industry, which has been stuck in a time warp for a long while. However, cinematically it leaves a lot to be desired. Mansoor tries to pack in too many issues at a go, which makes the film stretched and scattered. There are moments when it has you totally in its grip and then long stretches of utter tedium that blunt the final impact. It gets rounded off in a rather dramatic, filmi finale in the courtroom with Naseer playing to the gallery, spewing the most clap-worthy lines in the entire film. Khuda is structured around two tracks related to two brothers, both of whom have a band in Lahore. One goes to Chicago for further studies and faces the wrath of the US post 9/11. The other gets influenced by the religious hardliners to give up his freethinking ways, including his love for music. I would have preferred if this had remained the focus—the mausiki vs mazhab (music vs religion) debate reflecting the conflict between the liberal vs fundamentalist forces within the religion. I specially liked the one scene where a character explains how by replacing just one word in a song (Billo becoming Allah), the profane can become sacred. The film also has a fabulous soundtrack to back the ‘music’ theme, especially the Hindustani classical "Neer bharan kaise jaaoon" played on the piano and ‘Bandeya’. Listen on.