Bol Movie Review: Speak Of Issues!!

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After 'Khuda Kay Liye', Shoaib Mansoor comes back with another hard-hitting social drama revolving around the life of a young woman trapped with her sisters and mother in a tyrannical patriarchal family. However, Mansoor makes the mistake of trying to fit in too many social issues in one film.

The film starts with a young woman named Zainub (Humaima Malik) being taken to the gallows for the crime of murder (though it is not clear who has she bumped off, till then). After taking advice from a friend Mustafa (Atif Aslam), she decides to share her story with the media before the sentence is executed and thus begins the story of 'Bol'.

Born in a lower middle class family, Zainub shares an old crumbling house with her sisters and a mother who is dead tired of being impregnated by her husband Hakim 'saab' (Manzar Sehbai) again and again with the hopes of begetting a male heir to the family. Hakim, a restrictive father rules the family with an iron fist and his word is the law, though Zainub is the only one who rebels from time to time. However, when he decides to do away with his recent child, a eunuch, the family protests and a disgruntled Hakim gives in to their pleas of letting the child, who is later named Saifullah grow in the house.

Even as the family grapples with poverty, Saifullah grows up confused about his sexuality and gets gang raped by his colleagues at a truck painting outfit. When a sympathetic eunuch from the locality drops the teenager home, Hakim sees them together and assuming that Saifullah is bringing disgrace to the family, kills him the same night in a fit of rage.

When the police suspect foul play and threatens to make the post mortem report public, Hakim is forced bribe the officer with money meant for the 'masjid committee' and to swallow his pride and agree to teach Urdu to a charmingly roguish brothel owner Saqa Kanjar (Shafqat Cheema) for repaying the money before the committee finds out. On getting to know Hakim's 'record' for producing girl children, Cheema puts him to stud with his own daughter Meena (Iman Ali) so that Hakim can produce girls who might grow up to stock the stable.

Hakim marries Meena and begets a daughter, much to the delight of Kanjar. However, when it comes to handing over the girl child to Kanjar and his men, Hakim has a change of heart and begs Meena to let him have the girl child before he is thrown out by Kanjar.

Meanwhile, Hakim's other daughter Ayesha (Mahira Khan) is secretly married off by Zainub to Mustafa, a progressive medical student who Hakim disapproves of because he comes from a 'Shia' family. When Hakim finds out about this, he beats up Zainub in a fit of rage.

Matters finally come to boiling point when Meena comes to Hakim's house and hands over the girl child to the family. Hakim's wife and daughters discover that the child is Hakim's daughter from another woman, a prostitute, no less.

Zainub and the womenfolk decide to leave the house the next day but their plans are interrupted when Kanjar and his men come to the house to demand the girl child back. While attempting to kill the girl child rather than let her fall in Kanjar's hands, Hakim himself is killed by Zainub who instructs the other sisters to whisk the infant to safety and lies to Kanjar about the girl child being disposed off by Hakim.

A passionate Zainub ends her narrative by questioning the tendency to procreate without having the ability to provide adequately and is hung to death for the murder despite frantic efforts by a gutsy reporter Rashda to have the sentence suspended. The film ends showing Zainub's family breaking the family traditions and venturing out to take matters in their own hand by opening a small food stall that is soon converted in a lavish and much sought after restaurant named after Zainub.

Shoaib Mansoor pens a hard hitting plot though he makes the mistake of mixing too many issues in the film. For example- the issue of a eunuch child seems completely forgotten once the angry father does away with the character. Also included is a love story sub plot about frowning upon of marriages between different sects and age disparity in marrying partners. In addition, the liberal use of pure Urdu words though appropriate is a bit difficult to understand for moviegoers not used to the language. A crisper editing would have also made the fare more palatable.

Having said that, the film scores on plot and storyline. Performance wise, Malik does her job quite well, offering a potent mix of dignity and strength in her character of Zainub. Cheema as the roguish Kanjar with a wicked sense of humour also deserves approval.

Others play their roles passably. All said and done, Mansoor does deserve appreciation for having the courage to make the kind of film in which the lead actress rebelliously instructs his sisters to "throw away their 'burkhas' and to take control of their lives".