The usual posturing, gung ho violence, demented machismo peppered with the occasional saucy dance number completes the magic formula prepared so lovingly by Madame Sangeeta, and for some inexplicable reason this film turned into a bumper success while so many that appear utterly identical in style, execution, plot, subject matter and indeed cast seem to fail dismally. Why does a film like Sher-e-Lahore score a bull’s eye while twenty others just like seem to miss the mark? We haven’t a clue, but perhaps some of the elements that contributed to its success were the fact that Madame Sangeeta has managed to keep the pace of the film from flagging at any time during proceedings and is helped by a weird background score, some typically loaded dialogues and reasonable performances – the film is never boring.
In a country where corruption is rife at all levels of society , traditionally it has been a well known fact that people who have friends in important places can get away with certain things that others might not be able to. Such was the case with the most notorious smut-fests of the glorious 70’s such as Khatarnaak, Aaj da Badmash and Khan Zada and it seems that this might have been the case with a film like Sher-e-Lahore even though when compared to the normal Pashto stuff, this was very mild indeed.
The film is a blue print of the typical revenge based Lollywood Punjabi formula in the Maula Jat mould – loads of shouting and comic book machismo, tons of violence, the glorification and worship of guns, a strong bellowing mother figure, loaded dialogues, fat men running around with toy guns and some super saucy crowd pleasing dance numbers.
Of the performers Shaan does his Sultan Rahi thing with relish, growling ferociously and cackling grotesquely when the moment calls for it. Moammer Rana has learned how to shout like a proper Punjabi hero and has thus recently gained acceptance as a “proper hero”. Saima, as ever, looks older than Shaan but is effective in providing some comic relief along the way. She too performs some crowd pleasing dances but nothing to match the vulgarity of the Nirma numbers.
