A Hard-Hitting Masterpiece!

Exclusive: Koimoi.com Editor Komal Nahta’s take on the Pakistani film BOL, which is based on the subject of women’s upliftment.

Pakistani filmmaker Shoaib Mansoor is back after Khuda Kay Liye with yet another hard-hitting film, Bol. Like Khuda Kay Liye, his new film, Bol, will also see release in India – on 31st August on the occasion of Ramzan Eid. The man is a veritable genius to have written and directed a thought provoking film like Bol. It has so many layers that one marvels at how Mansoor must have come up with such a script. Bol is such a forthright comment on the travails of a girl child in an orthodox Muslim family that, quite paradoxically, it leaves one speechless. Performances of all the artistes are so wonderful that it would seem, all of them were born to play the roles assigned to them.

The Indian government should recommend BOL for entertainment tax exemption to every state government.

Each dialogue, especially in the second half in the sequences of interaction between the hakim and the brothel-keeper in the latter’s house, is worth a crore of rupees! The Indian government should recommend the film for entertainment tax exemption to every state government. After all, we keep talking about the upliftment of the girl child and gender discrimination, which exists in our country too, and it would be a shame if a film, tackling this subject so boldly, were to be ignored for the purpose of governmental support only because it has been made by someone from the neighbouring country with which our relations aren’t the best. For, no film has so far raised such a strong voice as Bol does against the harsh reality of how difficult it can be for girls to lead a life of respect and honour, especially if they are born in an orthodox family. The Indian government’s action in recommending Pakistani Bol for tax exemption could, probably, go a long way in cementing the strained relations between the two countries. Maybe, a film can do what our leaders and their politicians have not been able to do for so many years.