Written by: Muhammad Suhayb
Posted on: April 25, 2024 | 
| 中文
Mehwish Hayat, Beo Rana Zafar and Ali Rehman Khan in Daghabaaz Dil
Daghabaaz Dil, one of the two Urdu films to screen this Eid, managed to get more viewers to theatres than Junaid Khan’s starrer comedy number, Hum Tum Aur Wo. In order to please all stake holders, it seemed that the director messed up with the eventual product: mixing a family wedding with brothers fighting for property, a conniving phupoo (father’s sister) with her equally poisonous daughter, a full-of-herself leading lady, a pinch of Lahore’s theatre comedy, fake friends, death of a beloved and a djinn, who eventually becomes the antagonist.
The movie has Mehwish Hayat and Ali Rehman Khan in pivotal roles, a successful leading pair of Lollywood. Ali plays the role of Faris, a clear-headed UK returned gentle Karachi boy, for whom family comes first. When asked to marry his uncle’s daughter, someone whom he had met 20 years ago, he agrees. On the other hand, Mehwish Hayat does an ‘already been enacted in Bollywood’ role as Zoya, with shades of Kareena Kapoor’s Geet from Jab We Met (2007), she comes to know of her own marriage at the eleventh hour. For her, bringing peace among long-feuding families, seems secondary. Faris also has a mysterious friend called Moon, whom he occasionally consults. Played by Momin Saqib, the character turns out to be a djinn, and the role evolves with time.
Momin Saqib and Ali Rehman Khan
Daghabaaz Dil also features former film heroes, Babar Ali and Saleem Shaikh, both playing the role of Beo Raana Zafar’s sons, who are constantly at each other’s throats. To repair the damaged relationship of her two sons, Babar Ali and Saleem Shaikh, Beo Raana Zafar comes up with the idea of a marriage between her grandchildren. It seemed a masterstroke, until Momin Saqib shifts gears.
Saleem Sheikh, Beo Rana Zafar and Babar Ali
Babar Ali has been appearing regularly in supporting roles since The Legend of Maula Jatt, however, Saleem Shaikh is making a comeback to the big screen. Tazeen Hussain, daughter of veteran film and television actor Talat Hussain, makes her film debut as the sister of the fighting duo. Herself a leading lady of the late 90s and early 2000s, she recently made her comeback on television in 2022, and shines in the role written for her. Her acting compliments Michelle Mumtaz’s character, who also wants to marry Faris.
Tazeen Hussain and Michelle Mumtaz as mother-daughter
It seemed from the trailer of the film that Mehwish Hayat’s character Zoya is in a hurry to get married to Faris due to the ominous shadow cast by the djinn. However, the movie seemed like a routine Eid film of songs, dances and happiness, until the plot gets complicated.
Kareem has mortgaged his house to gangsters, Pappi and Chummi, a cameo appearance by comedians Iftikhar Thakur and Qaisar Piya, while the spell to scare the djinn away, also backfires. The fighting duo’s sister, who played a central role in the first half of the movie, disappears in the second half, and it seemed that she was kept out of the storyline to give Moon some space. The lad did manage to show his devilish charm, eccentricity as well as helplessness as a djinn, finally losing out to his friend, for good. The djinn angle may seem awkward for an Eid film, but more awkward was the introduction of Pappi and Chummi, that ended even before they were properly introduced.
Iftikhar Thakur and Qaiser Piya in the film
The cinematography is good as far as the wedding portion was concerned. Karachi is shown beautifully in the movie, while, the Karachi se Lahore director, made sure Lahore gets its due share. The scene when the camera revolves around the lead pair, and Moon is shown talking to Zoya as Faris, may have been a brave attempt to redo the classic climax scene from Veer Zara, where camera shows the aging of SRK and Priety Zinta, but the editing and camera placing is done badly. They could not recreate the scene, which was done by Yash Chopra some twenty years ago.
Music of the film by Aashir Wajahat (the kid from Karachi se Lahore, the titular character of John) and Hassan Ali, is pretty average, except from the dance number Gori Tera Jhumka. The soundtrack was actually short of a few songs, as it could have strengthened the narrative, with a couple more.
Momin Saqib and Mehwish Hayat
Co-written by Wajahat Rauf and Mohsin Ali, the film reminds us of many wedding movies from the recent past. Punjab Nahi Jaaongi, Load wedding and London Nahi Jaonga, all featuring Mehwish Hayat. She has the most screen time to herself, but Momin Saqib, the host-turned-youtuber-turned-actor, did complete justice to a role which seemed forced into a romcom. Ali Rehman Khan managed to engage the audience in some scenes, and like Wajahat Rauf’s Pardey me Rehnay do, he was good in bringing a few tears to the viewers.
Overall, Daghabaaz Dil is the only viable option available till Baqr-Eid and watching it once, won’t do much harm. We have seen some badly produced films by Pakistani filmmakers since The Legend of Maula Jatt, and Daghabaaz Dil is definitely not one of those.
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