There have been a number of post 9/11 offerings from Hollywood, but it takes a Pakistani film to create the maximum impact, worldwide, with its topical rendition of contemporary history’s most burning issue: Islamic fundamentalism.
Shoaib Mansoor’s ‘Khuda Kay Liye’ is indeed a historic event, being the first Pakistani film to be released in India after a hiatus of almost four decades. More importantly, it arrives with an awesome reputation of having created a storm at the international film circuit and having rattled the Pakistani film industry out of its somnambulism with a royal picking of Rs 7 crore at the box office. But more than all this, the film becomes important because it addresses concerns that affect the global mindset and clears myths that have already wreaked havoc in today’s world.
The film posits a clash of ideology between two strains of Islam. On the one hand, you have the fundamentalist version represented through the views of Mullah Tahiri. The cleric brainwashes the young Pakistanis with his sermons on jihad and an interpretation of Islam as an orthodox religion that denies women their rights and treats music and art as haram (forbidden). And on the other hand, you have the liberal face, showcased through two main characters: Sarmad, the young musician who refuses to fall prey to dogma and inadvertently becomes a victim of racial profiling and human rights abuse in the United States; and Maulana Wali, the enlightened seer who beats the fundamentalists at their own game. Quoting extensively from religious texts, the Maulana proves that Islam is neither anti-woman nor does it frown upon music, art and culture. More importantly, it espouses the concept of jihad as a war to overcome the failings within the fallible human self rather than as a synonym for terror. In a cameo that sends the viewers clapping and wowing, Naseer declares: Hence the nullity of outward rituals, dogma and conservatism.
The film unfolds as a dramatic clash of cultures between two rock musician brothers, the liberal Sarmad and the impressionable Mansoor who is brainwashed by the local maulvi and ends up completely messed up. Ironically, trouble befalls both the brothers, leaving their happy-family idyll scarred for life. While Sarmad ends up in the infamous US prisons and is tortured for his alleged links with the Al-Qaida, Mansoor becomes a pawn in a vicious game, where a distraught father uses him to forcibly prevent his British-born daughter from marrying her British boyfriend. And if that’s not enough, the young boy is forced to double up as a mujahideen in war-torn Afghanistan, even though he hates violence and declares he can’t kill a man. The film criss-crosses across three countries Pakistan, America, England to expose the acidic fall-out of a twisted interpretation of religion. If the Americans are guilty of equating Islam with terrorism, then a certain section of Muslims are equally guilty of holding the world and their community – ransom with their misconstrued beliefs.
‘Khuda Kay Liye’ isn’t merely a powerful story; it’s a film that boasts of fine performances, a great music score and sophisticated production values. Naturally, the scene-stealer is Naseeruddin Shah who enters only in the penultimate moments of the film, but adds enough punch to leave a lasting impression. He is ably matched by his rival, the fundoo mullah Tahiri, with actor Rasheed Naaz spewing fire and brimstone within the precincts of the mosque through sermons that are a deadly mix of religion and politics. Now here’s meaningful cinema that doesn’t compromise on commercial values. Go for it and get thinking.