Among the wave of indie films that Pakistani cinema witnessed in abundance lately, local film aficionados were craving for a desi commercial entertainer, which we haven’t seen aplenty in the recent past. With “Daghabaz Dil”, Wajahat Rauf and Shazia Wajahat duo have provided exactly that!
The initial premise of the film’s story is quite basic. With a feud between two brothers Saleem and Kareem (played by Babar Ali and Saleem Sheikh) over a family property spanning over decades, they are now brought together by their mother (played by Beo Rana Zafar) with a plan of marrying off their children Zoya (Mehwish Hayat) and Faris (Ali Rehman Khan) to fulfil her last wish of seeing her family united.
Zoya and family thus arrive in Karachi with Zara unaware of her own marriage set to take place in next 15 days. An initially reluctant Zoya, who puts her own happiness first instead of succumbing to someone else’s wishes, starts liking Faris when she gets to know the good natured person in him and decides to give this arranged marriage a go. Seems like an easy going right? Well it isn’t. The trouble in paradise starts when Faris’ childhood friend Moon (Momin Saqib) falls in love with Zoya too. To add to the misery are Zoya and Faris’s typical over-dramatic “phupho” and her daughter (played by Tazeen Hussain and Michelle Mumtaz, respectively) plotting against their marriage. All of this and the supernatural element in the story gives the movie some twists to keep the audiences engaged till the end.
While the revival phase of the cinema has seen dozens of films centred around wedding (“Punjab Nahi Jaungi”, “London Nahin Jaunga”, and “Load Wedding” to name a few), the otherwise quite clichéd setup of “Daghabaaz Dil” stands out from the rest with a super-natural angle. It gives a certain novelty to an otherwise run-of-the-mill plot and makes the narrative refreshing. Credit also goes to Momin Saqib whose performance in an unusual role matures as the film progresses.
While Momin’s performance is quite promising the film is Mehwish Hayat’s show through and through. She overshadows everyone in the frame each time she appears on screen. First with “Chhalawa” and now with “Daghabaaz Dil”, she has proven yet again that she doesn’t need a big name as male lead to sell the film’s tickets. She herself is the “hero” of her movies. Talking of the hero of film, Ali Rehman gives a strictly average performance in front of Mehwish, Momin and an amazing ensemble cast in supporting roles.
Film features a great range of actors in supporting roles and cameo appearances. Saleem Sheikh and Babar playing the two truculent brothers bring their Lollywood charm to screen. Tazeen Hussain as the villainous phupho and Beo Raana Zafar as the grandmother add value to the fun-filled family drama. A good number of cameo appearances by Iftikhar Thakur, Qaiser Piya, Rahim Pardesi, Hania Aamir and Ali Zaryoun, each after every few minutes also add value to the cheerful experience of this drama comedy.
Music of the film has been given by Aashir Wajahat and it features a dance number “Gori Tera Jhumka”, a romantic number “Aaja Chal” and a heart-break song “Haariyan”. The songs are good and add value to the film, however, for a festive rom-com the number of songs fell short. The narrative could have easily accommodated at least two more songs.
“Daghabaaz Dil” is Wajahat Rauf’s fifth film, making his production company share the second spot with Six Sigma Plus for producing maximum number of films since revival, the first spot held by Filmwala Pictures with six films. With his fifth film as director and second as writer, Wajahat’s craft has certainly improved. It can easily be placed as his second best film in his filmography, only after “Karachi Sey Lahore”. While Wajahat suceeds in keeping audiences engrossed for most part of the film’s runtime, he starts losing it only towards the climax. The climax gets unnecessarily dragged for last 15 minutes and film could easily have been ended without the half-baked emotional finale created around a forced death of a family member just to make a point.
Summing it up, while “Daghabaaz Dil” doesn’t come across as an unconventional film, it succeeds big time at what it aims for: an “awami” festive film with all the entertaining ingredients. With its comedic family drama, romance, emotions and a dance number, it ticks all the right boxes of a family entertainer for Eid. It also comes as a breather for the regular cine-goers who have lately seen a bulk of art-house films.
We will definitely recommend you to give the film a go!
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