Ramchand Pakistani - FIRST REVIEW

this review is taken from another forum, at skyscrapercity.com by someone who says he saw the film at new york film festival

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Anyway I got to meet Mehreen & her dad Javaid and have a quick chat along with couple other people.

Her dad, the movie producer, before the movie began, gave a small introduction talk to the audience about the movie & how it came about. He has been involved in NGO work in Thar area for some time and had personally come across the people on whom the movie is based. He declared the movie to be all Pakistani but only with collaborations with Indian composer/singer & ofcourse Nandita Das.



I would not like to ruin it for you and hope all of you get to see it.So I'll give only a teaser review.
The movie was somewhat low budget but very powerful. It was a treat for the eyes, ears & heart.
Though the story overall was sad and tugged on your heart or made you shed a tear or two. But it also had many very funny moments from prison guys politics to fartings where you would roar with laughter or make you think of stupid things that we all do in the name of religion or stereotyping otheres no matter who you may be.
Acting was superb by all esp the 2 young men who play the main character at age 8 & 12. Nandita as a distraught mother & wife gave a quiet but intense perfomance but Maria Wasti as upper-caste Mumbai-wali police woman was equally impressive. Noman Aijaz as a street vendor muslim was good too but Zhalay Sarhadi was totally wasted as a friend of Champa.

There were layers of personalities in the characters as is the case generally in real life. Most of them are capable of kindness and sometimes are surprised at their own infatuations with even the enemies.

There were details in little things that were most impressive. It may have been the ladoo that Aijaz gives to Champa in return for her unspoken love for him and her savoring it in the middle of the night when everyone is sleep.

Or it could be the Indian prison guard who let Ramchand ride his police bike. Or Kamla who lets Ramchand sit on the chair next to her & watch Sri Devi's film Chandni, her favorite.
Later she lands a kiss on Ramchand's cheek, making him all gooey & happy.

What I liked most in the movie were the little things and cmplexity of characters.

The scenery of Thar, was very beautiful esp. in the beginning. Simple lifestyles, hindu wedding scene, holi & other hindu rituals of Sindh seem well-researched and realistic.

The film seemed very balanced and not biased toward one country or the other. But took pains to show good & bad on both sides. For example the mota moti Indian prisoner who first get severe hasing by Ram's father shanker for offering the kid a cigarette, later shows affection & respect to them too.
MUSIC was absolutely wonderful and haunting

I predict the move to be a HUGE HIT in both Pakistan and even India. The performances of every single were great, and would prove to have a positive impact atleast on the plight of all the imprisoned Indians Pakistanis in eachother jails.

Its a MUST WATCH and should probably win a few awards.

At the end of the movie, Mehreen was introduced by another film maker of NY and held a 20 minute question-answer session with the audience, who had applauded the movie throughout esp. at the end.

The movie theater was packed, mostly non-desi people. We, my partner & my niece, were in the first few rows. I reminded Mehreen to mention her websites for future ventures by faking a question, for which later she thanked me as she would have forgotten to mention them which her father had told her earlier in front of us to do so.

We had left our cameras behind but I took her pic on my cell before we rushed into the movie and I'll upload it here later.

So go & see the movie.