Yalghaar

Im a big supporter of Pakistani cinema and always put an effort to watch Lollywood films that release in North America. I would have to say that I liked this film better than Waar because it had a good mix of romantic comedy, drama, action and emotions. I thought it would just be all about war, fighting and violence but it had much more to the story, which really pleased me.

Generally, I enjoyed the film, but it could have been better. I thought it was decently presented and had an appeal for all ages. However, I do agree with other viewers that the scenes were a bit choppy at parts and could have transitioned better (though I didn't think it was as bad as Bin Roye). Also, I didn't notice the Bank Alfala marketing until a bit later when they kept on showing their VISA cards, but I didn't mind that too much either. For a while I was a tad bit lost in the film because the sense of direction was a bit weak, but it slowly got back on track.

I particularly liked the ending and the way they made a tribute to all of those who lost their lives in the Peshawar tragedy. May they all rest in peace.

Pakistan Zindabad <3

Good things first; Cinematography, Graphics/Sounds, Action, Thrill, Gadgetry/Weapons, Costumes/Uniforms, Acting, Humour

Bad things; A bit compromised story, Didn't show true pic of army family lives back at home, Sequence of events, Excessive military operations throughout the film

Well I went to watch this movie on the 2nd day of its release. I feel, one cannot truly guess the actual reception of a movie in its early days, but being a Pakistan living abroad I could see the shinning eyes of Pakistani viewers for watching a film made in Pakistan, for Pakistan with an effort to give a strong positive image of Pakistan army and show their sacrifices. When you talk about any film or a TV serial made with the help of Pak army (ISPR), it will always have an excellent and well conveyed image of Pakistan army and the efforts our army men are doing for our country against terrorism. Film indeed is having a strong subject, but like other Pakistani movies the direction and editing was again felt to be yet again a weak link in this movie too. We have to cover this weak link of editing as soon as possible. I feel our thinking while editing a film is same as the way we do editing for TV serials. Film has many incomplete scenes while sometimes one scene has no link with the other. For me in order to keep the interest of film viewers intact with the film the relevance between the scenes should remain at all times. Most of the Dialogue delivered were having a strong message which was communicated and appreciated well by the audience, but at number of intervals unnecessary pause within different dialogues tends to slow down pace of film and losing interest. Aim of the film was to highlight the accomplishments of different section of Pak army during Swat operation which were no doubt delivered well as far as action sequences are concerned, but unfortunately not communicated thoroughly with the scenes. Less effort was seen while presenting different structure of Pakistan army portrayed in this movie. Inclusion of unnecessary romantic scenes has not only damaged the subject of this film but also took a lot of running time of film which resulted yet again in creating loads of fuss with ifs and butts with the editing part. No doubt, Comical scenes were light and delivered in brilliant ways and they filled many empty boxes of the film. Unfortunately, the negative character of villain was not portrayed properly, even the ending of the character was shown in a very soft way, without any climax. I mean if you are ending a Lead Villain it should have been done in a difficult way.

When it comes to the action sequences, well movie most of the time showed action by using different weaponry, these were pictured well, action graphics were also well designed. But again poor editing and mixing has overall resulted in low impact. One on one action scenes were either poorly pictured or deliberately shortened for accommodating other useless things. With special reference to the last scenes of finishing the main villain, that particular scene was definitely lagging in showing interested fighting sequence.

Another thing, I would to give a sincere advice to all the movie makers in Pakistan, please keep in mind you are making movie for viewers sitting in Pakistan not for Hollywood. So please try to keep the native language i.e. URDU as your first priority. I simply cannot understand that by having dialogues in English what are we trying to portray. However, even if the directors feel English dialogues are must in some scenes, proper Urdu subtitles can make things much easier for viewers.

In the end, overall yet again a great effort by Pakistan, I agree we are still in revival stage, but at the same time its better we learn things swiftly to mark a lasting impact on our audience.

Remember, Viewers from Pakistan are eagerly waiting for good stuff from Pakistani film makers, but at the same time bear in mind that they have access to other film industries also. So our films should have a unique subjects like this one communicated well with efficient editing efforts.

Keep up the good work!

I am a fan of the progressive nature that the Pakistani Film industry displays. The movies are now being released more frequently than ever. Although, like this movie very heavily reliant on advertising/product placement, I did not want a certain banks products shoved in my face Choppy editing seems to be the norm for Pakistani movies now, it's almost like they do not have enough budget to do things properly making scenes look incomplete.

The film itself was a tribute to the nation of Pakistan's army, and it did a good job of showing patriotism and giving an insight (if not a very loose insight) into what the young men & women do.

The movie did begin boring, as from the trailers a full on action movie was expected, it did get better and the action increased, also new actors need to be cast, as it's the same bunch of actors that are in every movie; there seemed to be an unnecessary amount of male lead characters, mostly whom are just models jumping on the project to make some extra money!

Undoubtedly the stories of men from Pakistan army fighting against terrorism are at the same time thrilling, sad, courageous and of sacrifice for a true cause. The hard part is to show the same emotions and situations that they went through, on the screen. Unfortunately, in my opinion the movie couldn't grab the audience's attention and there were only 2-3 moments in the 2.5 hours where i felt involved in the story. Lets start with the acting first, only good acting and expressions can give power to your dialogues and with a movie like this where you want to get emotionally attached to the amazing story acting needs to be real good but sadly many actors and actresses seemed to be lacking expressions and emotions. Similarly, choosing the right person for a specific character needs to be focused now days. Looking at Holly wood auditions one can learn how they find such good actors that fit the role perfectly but in the movie especially the role of Humayun Saeed was i thought a big misfit along with some others which showed it wasn't under consideration of the makers. At last, how to carry the story is the most important challenge for such a movie and it felt that the makers failed at it big time, the linking of scenes to reach a climax and then ending the story was really poor. I felt lost during the movie except those 2-3 scenes so, it was a good story that was not shared effectively.