ISLAMABAD: 2018 may not be off to the best start as far as Pakistani cinema is concerned. Parchi, the first film released this year, is a disappointing and largely bland experience.

Like Chupan Chupai, Parchi is another gangster comedy, complete with robbery, extortion and a comical romance, but where Chupan Chupai managed to pull it off because of its pacing and crisp punch lines, Parchi gets lost before it can deliver to its audience.

The story follows brothers Bash (Ali Rehman) and Bilal (Usman Mukhtar), and their roommates Saqi (Ahmad Ali Akbar) and Bhola (Shafqat Khan), as they team up to save Bash, a local ruffian and conman who steals money and ends up on the wrong side of Zodiac (Shafqat Cheema).

After Zodiac threatens to kill Bash if he does not come up with Rs5 million within five days, Bilal – his brother’s polar opposite – leaves his white collar job after witnessing his boss get murdered for ignoring a parchi he had received. The two brothers then turn to local goon Biscuit, a henchman of Erum aka Madam Sahib (Hareem Farooq), for help.

Although director Azhar Jafri successfully established all the characters and their relationships within the film’s first 15 minutes, the casting was not up to par.

Farooq is difficult to believe in the role of Madam Sahib, running a gang, with her soft tone and tenor. An empathetic romance between her and Bash, which would have set a different tone had it been incorporated into the first half of the film and enlightened the audience of their relationship, also feels out-of-the-blue when it is shown at the very end of the film.

At the same time, Farooq shines throughout Bilo Hai, a number choreographed by Usman Khalid Butt that does not fail to entertain.

Rehman’s Bash is also a challenging role, with the character shown to be self-centred, egotistic and oblivious to the value of relationships, be them with his mother, brother or his friends. Rehman does not quite shine in the role, and it is difficult to put the finger on him as a male lead, although the onus in this regard is on the writer rather than the actor.

Mukhtar, however, steals the show with his smooth dialogue delivery in difficult comic scenes.

The film also suffered from the sheer number of sidekicks, small-time gangsters and goons in most scenes, leading to a loss on interest on the part of the viewer, who is instead trying to keep count of who belongs on whose side.

The repetitive chases also felt like a bit of a drag, and showed weakness on the part of the director, while the fight scenes needed a professional trainer to tell the actors how to make a fist, throw a punch and hold a pistol.

Point-blank killings are also rampant throughout the film, as were other morbid scenes, which were supposedly comic from the director’s perspective.

Parchi, overall, was a team effort. Farooq, who played Madam Sahib, produced the film, while Mukhtar contributed as cinematographer and Shafqat Khan, who played Bhola, wrote the script.

The film was intriguing, but ultimately disappointing. There were many comic scenes that did not quite land, and a few poignant scenes between Erum, Bash and Bilal that should have brought out the script’s softer side never did.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2018