Sirf Tum Hi Tou Ho (Movie Review): The Last Nail in the Coffin of “Lollywood”

First of all this review contains some major spoilers, but by the time you will read this, the film will already be thrown out of the theatres, so it won’t harm the movie’s business anyway.

The story of “Sirf Tum Hi Tou Ho” revolves around Noor, the son of a wealthy father and Roshni, a girl from a lower-middle class family. Noor marries Roshni by going against his parents and their marriage is then predictably followed by financial woes. Roshni becomes pregnant and, at the same time, she is diagnosed with endometrial cancer and is advised by doctors to go for an abortion. However, the “loving” wife chooses to sacrifice her life for her “love” as her husband, who is unaware of all this, is excited for the child to be born.

But wait! Isn’t the story too dramatic and gives the same ‘rona dhona’ vibes like most Pakistani TV serials? The makers of this film probably thought the same so they added another character, Shiza, who is there to show skin and play games to lure Noor towards her. And that for the filmmaker is the most “filmy” thing they could have done.

The script by Suraj Baba, who has some decent work for TV to his credit, is horrible. The story, as mentioned above, is too ‘off’ and it’s further made unbearable by the clumsy screenplay and clichéd dialogue. And if by any chance, there is a scene that manages to capture your attention with some decent writing and believable acting, it is rendered moot by a horrendous background score, but more on that later.

Performance wise the lead actors are the only ones in the entire team who are seen doing their job with sincerity. Danish Taimoor as Noor delivers as good or as bad a performance, he has given in his previous prominent films regardless of a non-serious attitude by the makers this time. This consistency in performance by an actor despite knowing the fact that the film will go down the drain, speaks to his commitment and professionalism. Quratul Ain as Roshni shines in some scenes and is passable in others. Mathira gets to show a lot of skin in two songs and that’s exactly what she was hired for. She is seen flaunting her assets in minimal dresses and if her shorts still failed to expose the most of her body, the director made her jump into water, (once during the beach party and another time in pool) ensuring more exposure. (Remember those baarish waly gaanay?)

The songs are a disappointment too, with the exception of Rahat’s “Ishq Anokhari Peer” that sounds good in the cinema and is picturized quite decently. The rest of the songs are thankfully forgettable. What you won’t be able to forget for days are the sleazy visuals of the beach song where some chubby women are seen dancing, wearing embroidered silk dresses. The only sane person in the crowd was Ghana Ali who wore an appropriate dress for a beach party and looked chic, but the camera soon realizes this fact and keeps her out of the frame to not let her disrupt the “true essence” of the creepy world the team had successfully created.

The Background score is a nightmare. There is sad music being played during romantic situations and vice versa. A sad violin tune from Bollywood film “Mohabbatein” is played during a romantic scene where Roshni accidently fells into the arms of Noor and both get to see each other for the first time. Seems like the director never bothered to watch any version of this film once the film was cut. This film is an embarrassment to the viewers, to the industry and to a veteran like Sangeeta who once made films like “Muthi Bhar Chaawal” and “Society Girl” that won critical acclaim. Even her films in the 90’s like “Nikah” and “Khilona” were better products. The dilemma with this film is that it is not just outdated. It’s bad even when measured against the yardstick of 90’s era.

90’s era is known for a short lived revival of Urdu films that was headed by Syed Noor, Jawed Sheikh, Shamim Ara and Sangeeta. Shamim Ara never got the opportunity to make a film in this new wave, while Syed Noor and Jawed Sheikh made a disastrous comebacks with “Chain Aye Na” and “Wajood”. And now Sangeeta with “Sirf Tum Hi Tou Ho” has put the final nail to the coffin of our beloved old Lahore based film industry, aka Lollywood.

If you think that films like “Chain Aye Na” and “Thora Jee Le” were worst attempts in recent years, watch “Sirf Tum Hi Tou Ho” just to prove yourself wrong.