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There was great hype about animated film The Donkey King whose premiere was held at a local multiplex on Friday night.

The hype largely had to do with the project’s interesting teasers released a couple of weeks back –– politically charged dialogue in an animated movie. No wonder the red carpet was abuzz with activity from the time scheduled for the start of the event.

Well, the director of the film, Aziz Jindani did not agree.

Talking to Dawn, Jindani reasoned: “The idea for the story came like the apple dropped in front of [Isaac] Newton. I find it amusing that people are interpreting it in different ways. It is not a political story... it’s a social story.”

If that’s the case, then why do it with animated characters? Jindani replied: “The story chose the language of animation itself.” He also claimed that the quality of animation will set a benchmark [for movie makers] in the country.

It was such a pleasure to run into veteran comedian Ismail Tara. He plays the important character of Chacha Pehlwan in the film. Tara was super happy about the way things have flourished in show business, especially in the field of animation. “This is very good. It is of a high level,” he exclaimed.

Now on to the film.The Donkey King has an overexcited, bumpkin donkey Mangu (John Rambo) at its centre. His father (Javed Sheikh) has died but he speaks to his son through a framed picture in order to put sense into his head. Mangu is a dhobi (clothes-washer).

The action takes place in Azad Nagar, a piece of land ruled by a lion (Ghulam Mohiuddin) who has an effeminate, self-indulgent son obsessed with his presence on social media. The king has an adviser, a fox named Fitna Begum (Hina Dilpazeer), the villainess in the story who tries to double-cross the king when the animals of the jungle don’t approve of his idea to put his son on the throne. She tells him to introduce democracy in the country, find a numbskull of a ruler, which ultimately would put the king’s son back in the saddle. It’s all a ruse.

If this is not political, then what it is? But the thing is that Jindani keeps the tone of the film as if it’s more of a social saga than a political one. The trick lies in the script. Jindani makes use of not just most of the Urdu proverbs and idioms about a gadha (donkey), he also uses references from television and film industries of the subcontinent.

The voiceovers are clean as a whistle, and the dubbing doesn’t have much to crib about.

That being said, it would be a gross injustice not to mention the hard work the animators put in. And it wouldn’t be wrong to suggest that other animated films that have been made in Pakistan so far, The Donkey King stands head and shoulders above the rest. Not that it is flawless. One can easily nitpick, but there’s no need.

Now if one can be allowed to be philosophical about the whole thing, then there’s a bit of an Orwellian touch to the plot. No, not an awful lot of Animal Farm, I mean. Just a bit.

Originally published in Dawn, October 14th, 2018