Salakhain

Salakhain

Directed by : Shehzad Rafiq

Produced by : Khwaja Rashid

Written by : Amjad Islam Amjad

Starring:-

Zara Sheikh
Meera
Saud
Ahmed Butt

Music by : M. Arshad

Cinematography:- Ali Jan

Release date(s) 2004 (Pakistan)

Country Pakistan

Language Urdu

About Salakhaein:-

Salakhain (Urdu: سلاخیں) is a Pakistani film which was released in 2004. Stars included Ahmed Butt, Zara Sheikh and Meera. It was directed by Shehzad Rafique and produced by Rashid Khwaja and Khalil Rana. Music was composed by M Arshad. Sajid Hassan and Saud were casted as villains with Shafi Muhammad as their boss.

Shehzad Rafiq has been into moviemaking for quite a while. He is mostly known as the producer of the mega hit Ghoongat - written and directed by Syed Noor. Salakhain, his first venture, is being touted by many as being the harbinger of much needed revival of film industry in Pakistan. It is equally being propagated as the entry point for a future film star - Ahmad Butt, someone who has over the years become the most recognizable male face on the catwalk.

Whether the movie makes good on its claims is a question that still begs the viewers' verdict. But going by what happened to the movies which emphasized on one ingredient at the cost of the other - either form or substance - the future seems easy to predict. In opposition to the opinion of directors and filmmakers who have been insisting on having a strong storyline and taking little pains to improve on the form, there has emerged - or has always existed - another school which prefers presentation over content. Both camps have succeeded only in exceptional cases. The mantra lies in combining both the form and the substance - and it is here that Salakhain disappoints the most.

No doubt, some filmmakers have of late excelled in producing movies which had presentation as their forte. A number of movies that Javed Sheikh has come up with during the last few years ably demonstrate what excelling in form means. In India Bollywood flicks like Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Dil Chahta Hai, Hum Tum and Chalte Chalte have successfully played upon this preference for form over content.

The reason why these movies clicked and why others made similarly did not (and will not) do well lies in how and how much filmmakers are able to stretch the limits of the possible. How much experimentation is done within a given form is what gives a film a fresh image that can attract audiences.

What goes to the credit of makers of Salakhain is that they seem to know their limits. But this ability to remain within a given framework also turns out to be the film's most significant flaw. The director and the writer are unable to put the possibilities to test. They have succeeded in as much as that they have produced something that scores seven out of ten on technical grounds. But they have failed as much as that they have come up with a film that scores dismally as far as the storyline is concerned.

The only thing that they have learned so far is to be comfortable in using props which until recently have been taboo in Pakistani movies. Drinking and skimpy dresses made the actors, the directors and the audience all feel uncomfortable once, but no more. Maybe they are no longer being used for their own sake alone but as a necessary part of the milieu the film tries to evoke or present. Meera seems as much at ease in her glittering but seductively short dresses as is Sajid Hassan with his drinking. At least on this count, Lollywood seems to have come of age and with glowing colors. Surely this has to do with the authorities relaxing censorship rules and acknowledging that the 'forbidden' exists no matter how much glossed over in the movies.

Synopsis:-

Salakhain is an Urdu feature film set in the backdrop of Gawalmandi, Lahore. It is the story of a young man who is passionate about life and dreams of a bright and prosperous future. Little does he know what life has in store for him? He is destined for a future engulfed with hatred, anger and revenge.

Introducing 'Ahmad', Pakistan's most sought after model and winner of LUX Style Award 2003 for Best Model, in the Lead role, Salakhain is devoid of Compassion and sympathy. Full nonstop action, Salakhain is a thriller sure to make you sit upright in your chair.

The film is shot on the most breathtaking and exquisite locations in Pakistan and the pleasure of watching the movie on the silver screen will be greatly enhanced by the digital (DTS) sound.

Plot:-

It is the story of a young man who is passionate about life and dreams of a bright and prosperious future. Little does he know what life has in store for him. He is destined for a future engulfed with hatred, anger and revenge.

Salakhain tells the story of an innocent, hardworking student who comes from a lower middle class family and who is in love with an equally innocent and earnest looking young girl. A strange twist of events lands him in a dispute with the booti mafia (people facilitating cheating during exams), resulting in his arrest, his father's death and his mother going mad, one following the other in quick succession. In jail he meets a man who knows his enemies well and has his own issues to pick up with them. The rest is as predictable as any action movie made anywhere in the world - a journey towards retribution, passing through the maze called politics and crime and ending in death and sacrifice.

Still it seems that 'good execution' is not tantamount to a 'flawless execution'. In fact it is far from it. Salakhain could have done quite well without the kind of placid and hackneyed dialogues it has. The music is quite forgettable, nay, rather jarring and loud. The lyrics are equally ordinary and ineffective. And, most importantly, not all actors have done justice to their characters. Both Ahmed Butt and Zara Sheikh seem misfits in their roles as playful but well-meaning youngsters. Zara is good at dancing and singing while Ahmed appears to be at ease during action episodes. In the rest of the movie their acting skills display a singular lack of diversity and inability to vary moods and emotions according to the turn of the events.

Meera's acting is as unreal as her role. Though the character she plays in Salakhain has been done by all the main Bollywood actresses and is found in almost every other movie made in our part of the world, it somehow lacks reality. In real life we hardly come across a woman who is equally good at being a singer and a criminal while at the same time being able to look pretty and rather seductive.

But the most important omission is the storyline, which goes a long way in substantiating the point that no amount of effort put in execution can make a thin plot work. A movie that starts with a jail fight and ends with quite a lot of bloodshed - with all the stock scenes and situations that have been used a trillion times in Pakistani movies in between - cannot take credit for being different. Even the subject that it takes up has been done to death by Lollywood filmmakers, starting with Hawaain and used afterwards in a series of films named after powerful student leaders of 1980s and 1990s.

The decision as to which subjects can be banked upon for the creation of a successful flick is highly personal and may depend upon various reasons for various persons. But as a general rule it is money that makes the mare go. The basic consideration for most of the moviemakers remains - or should remain - commercial, though there have been plenty of notable exemptions to this rule. Anyone attempting to have a go at a productive commercial venture needs to keep some basic facts in mind though, the most significant being lessons from the past. One needs to tread carefully where others have faltered quite frequently. The nexus between student leaders, crime and politics is one theme that has been used successfully only very sparingly so one wonders why the producers decided to repeat it.

Apparently, the theme looks promising because it is taken to represent how the world works around us - the innocent getting caught up in the web of crime and influence through no or little fault of their own. But much seems to have changed since this subject was first adopted. Take, for example, the case of student politics. It lost its allure long ago, when student unions were banned during Zia's Martial Law. Similarly, the era of staged police encounters on the directives of the highest political authorities also seems to be over, for the time being if not forever. Public anger over the criminalization of politics has either subsided into a sense of resignation or has been co-opted through the networks of power and patronage. The vicarious pleasure that the audience could feel at the demise of a powerful villain at the hands of an ordinary young man no longer rings a familiar chord with the society at large

Film Business:-

Lahore: Golden Jubilee, 73 weeks (Gulistan 35, Capital 9, Plaza 9, Empire 8 weeks). Completed continuously one year in Lahore.

Cast:-

Zara Sheikh
Meera
Saud
Ahmed Butt
Shafi Mohammad
Sajad Hassan

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