By Maliha Rehman
Dark, violent, peppered with street-smart dialogues and sinister characters roaming the dark underbelly of Karachi – ‘Daadal’, which releases this Eid-ul-Fitr, isn’t your typical Eid movie. From the looks of the trailer, there aren’t any happy-go-lucky family moments in the movie. There isn’t a colorful shaadi bhangra number or a hero and heroine locking eyes and falling love.
Instead, Daadal looks gritty, hopefully laden with suspense and action and bolstered by strong performances. This could be much more refreshing from the usual cookie-cutter Eid movie fare. Sonya Hussyn, her face caked with grime and her hair braided is opening gunfire and delivering dialogues like, ‘Mein paisay lay kay qabar mein litati hai.’ Shamoon Abbasi is her nemesis, Mohsin Abbas Haider the policeman who evidently is trying to catch her out.
Karachi’s Lyari – contentious, unruly, rife with gang wars and a famous training ground for formidable boxing champions – forms the story’s backdrop. Sonya is a female boxer who becomes a contract killer in order to avenge her sister’s honor. The trailer hints that she is going to instigate a gang war. There are also going to be scenes from the boxing ring, offering an insider’s look into Lyari’s boxing arenas. Eva B raps ‘Khoon Hai Karachi Ka’ and Sonya Hussyn, clad in leather, lip syncs to it, kicking out towards the camera.
This could be fun. It’s a risk releasing a crime thriller on Eid, when most film producers try to lure the audience in with typical romances, but one never knows what could click at the box office. A movie like Daadal could draw in the audience simply because it is trying to tell a different kind of story.
But will Daadal attract in a large crowd of cinema-goers or a small, lukewarm one? It depends on whether the movie itself is a good one. The action needs to be believable and fast-paced. The story needs to make sense and not be littered with potholes. There needs to be an original feel to the Lyari-based storyline – it cannot be entirely reminiscent of the many Bollywood movies that focus on gang wars.
Daadal’s subject matter is certainly not for a younger audience. To be entertaining enough for a mature adult audience, the movie itself needs to be a mature one.
The ensemble cast is very likely to deliver, boasting names like Adnan Shah Tipu, Maira Khan, Shamoon Abbasi and model-turned-actor Rizwan Ali Jaffri. The story itself needs to deliver to.
Daadal is produced by Neha Laaj & Asif Malik, co-produced by Faisal Malik & Jahanzaib Khan, distributed by Eveready Pictures and written and directed by Abu Aleha.
What do you think?