I went to see Ramchand Pakistani at Nishat the other day and while I have to say, people have yet to learn theater ethics (save the commentary for later, please!), it was fun.
This is only the 3rd Pakistani movie I've ever watched (Quaid, Khuda Kay Liye and this) and it was great. Granted, its nothing like the typical Pakistani Lollywood product, so if you want half-naked dances performed by 50 year-olds (who claim to be 18!), look elsewhere! The movie itself was great. Mehreen Jabbar's first attempt at a feature film and she pulled off the fine details quite nicely. Cinematography, casting, the acting and dialogues were good. Fazal Hussain, the boy who played the younger Ramchand was great - despite his age, his acting was marvelous and he played his role of a boy in prison very well.
Rashid Farooqi was also very good - his character was well rounded executed very nicely as well. All of the people in the cell with Ramchand and Shankar were excellent as well - the environment created and their acting also added to the believability of their situations. Noman Ijaz's character seemed very unnecessary to me.
My only complaint with it was the language. I'm not easily offended or anything, and I can understand that swearing added to the feel of the movie and characters, but come on, someone could have at least given a warning to the people about it! Some people had their kids with them and I don't want to imagine them trying to explain the meaning of the gesture Ramchand (the older one) made! Overall, I really liked the movie. It was an all-round, polished product and though there were some editing issues and a couple unexplained scenes I noticed, I suspect that was because of the censoring in the cinema house. It's based on a true story so that's an added point to ponder.
If nothing else, watch it for the "revival of cinema in Pakistan!" :D
