Dekh Magar Pyaar Say offers a very interesting cinematic experience for those who are uninitiated to Pakistani cinema. This is not an over the top, lavishly mounted bollywood masala flick -- it has some sensibilities of an independent film, such as a novelist taking over the avatar of a screenplay/dialogue writer, and borrows in its narrative style and visuals from contemporary western cinema. Some sequences, such as the 50s themed song and dance sequence ("Tauba Tauba") are surreal enough to let it drag into the more experimental territory.
Yet it remains a pretty accessible, commercial movie. Centered around the encounters and affairs of a Lahori rickshaw driver and a scam artist/bride on the run, the movie runs at a length of close to two and a half hours, and offers everything from a desi wedding sequence, the leading lady getting high on pot and a grand finale shot in London. What lets it down are some rather sophomoric performances (from the male lead, Sikander Rizvi, specifically) and a screenplay which runs at a pace that would put a sloth to shame.
Props to the team for depicting Lahore in a very unusual manner,the excellent production values, and the underlying message of woman power -- but better casting choices and a couple of revisions of the screenplay would have done this movie much good. Hopefully, Asad Haq, the gentleman directing the movie, will keep up with the visual and quirk factor in his future productions and build on the shortfalls highlighted by this movie. The chief among these, as mentioned previously, is Sikander Rizvi, who in real life runs a french fine dining eatery in Karachi. Rizvi comes across as the antithesis of a rickshaw driver, and his body language, accented Urdu and mannerisms were hugely ill-suited for the role. So much so that his is performance made it tremendously difficult to suspend disbelief and served as an unpleasant distraction; hopefully better sense will prevail in the future.
The film gets a high score for Humaima Malick's performance, the excellent visuals, an interesting plot and generally tasteful production values.
