Who Are We? NAA MALOOM AFRAAD!

In the recent time, the term Na Maloom Afraad has been linked to those culprits who take the law into their hands. But the most interesting thing is that, we can never see them!

The movie Naa Maloom Afraad is a comic spin on this term, Directed by Nabeel Qureshi and Produced by Fizza Ali Meerza.

Before the release of the movie, the cast of the movie came to our university. Watching the promos, I was convinced that this time Pakistani Film Industry has come up with something new and entertaining.

From the staring till the end, the movie seems very engaging and is a full-on entertainer. The lead role is played by television artists Fahad Mustafa, Javed Shiekh, Mohsin Abbas Haider, and Urwa Hocane.

The movie revolves around the three protagonists: Fahad Mustafa as Farhan is an insurance agent who never did one right thing, Javed Shiekh as Shakeel who is honest but financially restricted and Mohsin Abbass as Moon who dreamed to go to Dubai and has lied to his family. There is also another chapter in Farhan lives that is love with Naina (Urwa hocane).

According to me, this movie is a complete pack of the things that are recently happening in Karachi. Naa Maloom Afraad skims the travails poverty and street violence in the country. They say, Karachi people can survive anywhere else in the world but not everyone can survive in the Karachi.

The part which I take as the important one is that people can do anything for money. As in this movie, Moon, Farhan and Shakeel are tired of the poverty and plan something for easy earning. They conspired to become rich by opening lockers in the bank; they put nothing in it and burn that bank in strikes. They afterwards claim for their insured money. Then comes in their lives a gangster, Gogi, who makes things difficult for them. Shakeel  bhai is an honest person but just because his home was about to be demolished by the Government for which he also got involved in the plan.

Whenever there was a chaos in the city due to bad conditions the three planners were extremely happy and excited for it and they would laugh hardly, crack jokes and made fun of it since there planning was totally based on the fact that whenever there will be a strike in the city they will execute their plan of burning the bank. I still visualize the dialogue of Farhan when he said that, "Shakeel Bhai! Haalat kharab horahe hai," with a bright smile on his face.

The characters have worked so brilliantly in the movie that it was difficult to determine whether it is a film or a reality. The director has chosen the original Karachi Locations for the shooting of the most of the movie and it is captured in a perfect way. The Karachiites will appreciate that the movie uses the regular streets, and routes that they use in their daily life.

It is also interesting to see the way the characters had grasped the language used by common people in Karachi. Adapting to the accent of commoners is really difficult but the actors have done an extraordinary job. The effectiveness of the dialogues and the comedy can be seen from the laughter of the crowd in cinema.

The songs and lyrics don’t strike a chord with us as compared to bollywood songs. Apart from this, the movie also contains some typical points that have entertained the viewer before through different movies, a point where Farhan and Naina go to Mazar to pray for their marriage. We also find a substitute of the typical item number that we already seen in bollywood in movies in the song “Billi”.

Those who follow Indian cinema quite closely might relate this movie with “HERA PHERI” staring Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty. This similarity is evident because both the films have characters that are encouraged by their poor conditions to devise a plan in order to make their situations better.

The ending of the movie was unexpected because one thinks that the characters won’t get any money and all their plans were ruined but in the end the named Hina Merchant (khubra Khan) who played a minor role as a bank manager, helped them to get their money.

One of the comic scenes that I would remember and laugh on it is when they open their lockers but instead of placing any cash or ornaments, they keep their underwear, razors and pickles in it but claim that they had millions in them.

It was their daily routine that one of the actors, Farhan used to boil water in a gigantic utensil for boiling two eggs, one for him and other for Moon and when the eggs were boiled Farhan used to take shower with the same water. This scene was presented in the hilarious way that created humor all around the theatre.

Another one of the comic scene that cracked me up was, when suddenly the city conditions were disturbed and they had a chance of burning the bank they got excited and started finding something by which they can make a small bomb because they had no other vessels. Eventually they heard a voice from the back of container of a person sitting in the garbage and smoking. That man helped them in making a cracker by providing them with material but they made fool of themselves, when they heard police siren. They got so panicked that by mistake they threw the cracker on that garbage man.

All and all every character looks convincing in their roles. From the protagonists Fahad, Javed, and Mohsin to the antagonists played by Salman Shahid and Nayyar Ejaz. It doesn’t seem from the movie that the actors have never worked in the movies before.

Naa Maloom Afraad is a total hit and a ‘Paisa Vasool’ film. A film that has turned the Pakistani cinema from the same old ‘gujjar’ movies to some interesting work that we all can be proud of many years from now. By following this trend of amazing quality work, we can surely compete with Bollywood cinema and we have enough talent to do so.

There are many scenes in this movie that will make you burst into laughter. Which one is your favorite scene?

By: Seemeen Mohammad Ali Lalji
      Tooba Elahi
      Muhammad Ahmed