Cinema Screams Ghabrana Nahi Hai

This year when after a long wait, Eid has come without the fear of the pandemic people are eager to go out of their homes and meet their dear ones on the festive occasion like they used to. One of the getaways of people on Eid is going to the cinema. After a closure of two years, cinemas in Pakistan are finally open and have lit their screens up with four Urdu and two Punjabi feature films.

One of these films is Ghabrana Nahi Hai which has become talk of the town because of its name. Those who are relating it to the popular phrase from the addresses of former PM of Pakistan must know that the film has nothing to do with politics. The phrase is simply used in the sense of typical Pakistani way of calming one out when in distress.

A romantic comedy film with a love triangle and a villain in among them as well GNH also supports the issue of women empowerment in the folds of the story. The story line is smooth; dialogues are catchy and acting by all the actors is are up to the mark.

The film features an ensemble cast including Saba Qamar,  Zahid Ahmed and Syed Jibran as the leading trio with Nayyar Ejaz, Sohail Ahmed and Afzal Khan aka John Rambo in crucial roles.

The story of GNH actually revolves around Zubaida aka Zuby (Saba Qamar), a middle class girl next door from the city of Faisalabad. Zuby has a dream of becoming an actress so to justify her wish; she posts videos on TikTok hence garnering two million followers on the app. Meanwhile Zuby comes to know that his father (Sohail Ahmed) has a property in Karachi that he wanted to sell after his retirement in order to marry Zubaida with all the demands and obligations of Pakistani wedding but ultimately realised that his plot has already been grabbed by a land mafia owned by Bhai Mian (Nayyer Ejaz). After knowing this, Zuby heads to Karachi to get her family’s land back. To get over her father’s concern, who is scared of putting her daughter in front of the mafia, Zuby tells the family that she was going to Karachi for an audition. Once she’s reached Karachi, she is picked up from the railway station by her cousin Vicky (Syed Jibran), who is already head over heels in love with Zuby. Assuming it not the right time to propose to Zuby, he finds himself occupied in helping her to get to the culprits, and in these exertions, Zuby falls for a police officer Sikander (Zahid Ahmed), who eventually turns out to be one of the men behind Bahi Mian to give him legal/illegal support and then get his share in return.

GNH, though, may lack somewhere in perfect cinematography and colour/voice grading but it remained intact and up to the standard in two major ingredients of film: sensible flow of story and good framing. Worthy enough to get the audiences glued to their seats till the end. Unlike many Pakistani films, in which sometimes the real plot gets lost somewhere in order to capture just the splendour, GNH mainly focus its camera wherever it is appropriate. Moreover, the film has all the ingredients of a sub continental commercial film like romance, comedy, thrill and action.

Saba Qamar, the highlight of film GNH, always surprises audiences with her exquisite, in-the-character looks, the best dialogue delivery and nonverbal dialogues with her expressions and gestures. Qamar has mostly done comic roles, even in the Bollywood flick Hindi Medium with Irfan Khan

Zahid Ahmed even though stars in a serious role but at the same time yields the overall feel, of the film, comedy. We hope to see him in more films in more challenging and distinct roles for which he is famous for in dramas. Ahmed though already has earned a big name in the drama industry by doing a variety of roles, his appearance in the film is amazing and he has proved himself fit for the big screen as well.

The most surprising element is the entry of Syed Jibran in films. His character Vicky, turned out to be the major comic relief in the film, being a mix of Punjabi Munda in a lifestyle of a Karachi ka Larka. No doubt, he worked hard on his looks and mannerism for the role. After watching him in negative and grey roles in dramas for the last couple of years, Vicky is a refreshing change. Many may agree that Jibran is much or even more fitting for the big screen!

Nayyer Ejaz has again proved to be a perfect villain, this time, a wilful land grabber of cosmopolitan with all his cruelty and evil scheming. Sohail Ahmed despite a very small role in the film left an impact till the end. Afzal Khan in the role of an assistant police officer was a reminiscence of old Lollywood era.

Ghabran Nahi Hai is Saqib Khan’s directorial debut for cinema. Khan has already directed and written numerous drama serials, teleplays, and telefilms for television. His notable work is the recently aired Hangor, a telefilm on Pakistan Navy, inspired by the real incidents of 1971 Indo-Pak war while many other projects for the ISPR under his belt as well. This is the second time Saba Qamar and Zahid Ahmed are seen together in any of Khan’s projects after Hangor.

Being a debutant as film director, Khan has done well. The film was nicely scripted, wisely filmed, and tightly knitted.

Saqib Khan shares the credit as writer of the film as well with Mohsin Ali. This is after a long time in the history of Pakistani cinema that a major cinema owner has come forward into film making as well. Ghabrana Nahin Hai is produced jointly by JB films owned by Jamil Baig the owner of Nueplex Cinemas and Mastermind Films owned by the much experienced player in the field Hassan Zia.

The unique selling point of GNH is its appealing storyline. If it is really to resume cinema’s operation back to normal (which was never even before pandemic), then we must need to make movies in decent nominal budget with fresh ideas, good acting and perfect camera work and editing.