Biopics of criminals and serial killers is a whole sub-genre of films when one looks at cinema globally. With”Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer” Pakistani cinema too gets to tread on the dark and twisted path of one of its most notorious murderers, dramatizing the gory events in order to provide some sort of catharsis that’s been on order for over twenty years now.
Ayesha Omer and Yasir Hussain, two actors who debuted in the same film (“Karachi Se Lahore”) are seen in a dramatically different and de-glammed avatar here. Omer plays a lady cop, fast on the heels of antics attributed to mass murderer Javed Iqbal, played by Yasir Hussain. Both of them look, unlike anything they have been seen as, so far. The monologue by Hussain against which the reel of haunting shots from the film flashes has quite a chilling effect, and things get even more creepy once he comments snidely on the incompetence of law enforcement officials. This was clearly a serial killer many, many steps ahead of the law.
On the technical end, there’s much Steadicam footage and the sepia-tinted imagery is quite effective at conveying the unfolding turmoil. Both Omer and Hussain are reliable actors, and they seem to be in their element — although we would have liked to see more of the actual scenes and dialogues from the film.
“Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer” releases on December 24. It is directed and written by Abu Aleeha and produced by Javed Ahmed Kakepoto under the banner of K.K. Films.
