Dil Dil

Hey

Let's just say I haven't been regular with the blog.

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=sAQltxqCluQ

The song is called Dil Dil Pakistan by Vital Signs, arguably the biggest song ever by the biggest Pakistani band in the 90's. The song became an anthem then, and is still an anthem now. Lead by singer Junaid Jamshed and influential director - producer Shoaib Mansoor (ShoMan), the band, the song, Junaid and ShoMan took Pakistan by storm.

Now why is stumbled upon this song is another question. I recently saw Khuda Kay Liye the first proper mainstream movie to come out of Pakistan in 3 decades and a movie I would recommend to every Indian. Not because its breakthrough cinema or anything but because it gives a realistic picture of what Pakistanis and Muslims go through every day for no fault of theirs.Also since it gives us a chance to hear their side of the story. As the saying goes, all(alright most) terrorists are Muslims but not all Muslims are terrorists.


It is essentially the story of two musician brothers; the elder one goes to the U.S. to pursue music while the younger one gets influenced by Fundamentalist Islamists , quits music and joins them + and how situations change post 9/11. There's another sub plot with their cousin sister from England who is forcefully married in Pakistan. That along with Muslim stereotypes being dealt with, form the gist of the movie.The movie is directed by Shoaib Mansoor(ShoMan, as he calls himself and as mentioned earlier) and being the man he is, the movie was highly anticipated and well, worth the hype.

Deviating from the topic a little, Pakistan doesnot really have a lot of icons (most coming out of cricket and music) so the few icons they do have ( like ShoMan, Shahid Afridi, Junaid Jamshed, Ali Zafar, Atif Aslam etc) get ALOT of hype. Also, has anyone noticed how good looking Pakistani people are?

Coming back, the younger brother's character in the movie is loosely based on Junaid Jamshed (ShoMan and JJ were more than brothers before JJ took the Islam U-turn. Also JJ was the Micheal Jackson of the time in Pakistan so his quitting the music scene came as a huge shock to the Pakistani people). Which also explains why the movie got even more hype, since this was ShoMan's way of telling his side of the story and how he felt about the whole JJ islam episode.

Without going too much into the story, the movie's direction is consistently good, the performances are tight, and the background score is very good. So is Naseer-uddin Shah 's scene stealing cameo at the end. Considering this movie was shot on a shoestring budget, it's a delight to watch.(3.5/5). And if you're cheap and can't buy the DVD, it's also available on youtube(though the print pretty much sucks)

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Talking of Pakistan, my ancestral home is in Peshawar and I really wish I could go see it in this lifetime. Also, Pakistanis are generally a warm, friendly and genuine people and it is just a few extremists who use the garb of Jihad to mislead young impressionable minds and bring both Islam and Pakistan a bad name.

Peace