As it so happens, watching too much of contemporary “content” — the woe-stricken word is a curse to genuine and engaging storytelling — one often gets an aching desire for old-school stories, the kind that simply worked, irrespective of being drenched in predictable cliches.

As luck would have it, Kamran Shahid’s filmmaking debut, Huay Tum Ajnabi (HTA), thrives on nostalgic stereotypicality. The question though is: do these old-school aspects still work?

Yes and No.

Surprisingly chopped to fit a two-hour-33-minute runtime — and more surprisingly, carrying lucidity and coherence of a streamlined narrative (the edit is by Rizwan AQ) — HTA is made in the way movies were usually made decades ago. Loud in emotions, and surging with songs (there are eleven in the film), HTA’s tone and style is reminiscent of Indian and Pakistani films one used to rent when VHS was in vogue.

Kamran Shahid’s fi lmmaking debut Huay Tum Ajnabi’s tone and style is reminiscent of Indian and Pakistani fi lms one used to rent when VHS was in vogue

Set between 1970 and 71, the years of the ‘fall of Dhaka’, Zeenat (Sadia Khan), a young girl from Lahore who refers to herself with the stately ‘hum’, bursts into a song when she receives a letter of admission from Dhaka University. Once there, she is flirted with by the handsome, wealthy, well-dressed, marriage-material hunk Nizamuddin (Mikaal Zulfiqar), also from Lahore.

At first, cupid seems only partly interested and the sparks don’t fly.

Nizamuddin and his over-aged pals are not interested in studies. Meanwhile, Zeenat, with her holier-than-thou, goody-two shoes attitude, isn’t interested in his advances…that is until Nizamuddin gets a hero-moment by saving her from the wrath of a hooligan associated with the Mukti Bahini.

This radical resistance movement is gradually eliminating West Pakistanis from East Pakistan and, in the scope of the story, will eventually commandeer Dhaka University as their ammo safehouse.

The romantic pair returns to Lahore and the hero pines for the love of his life. Seemingly uninterested in the world, he half-heartedly agrees to visit the unveiling of a new courtesan in Bazar-i-Husn (the red-light district) where prostitution thrives under the authoritative hand of Khanum Jaan (Sohail Ahmed) — a secret ally of the Mukti Bahini.

Nizamuddin, his heart aching for Zeenat, is floored by the reveal — the new courtesan is Zeenat; the look on his face defines the dun-dun-dunnn sound effect playing in his head.

Nizamuddin never leaves the courtesan’s place after this reveal. Well, almost never.

On a parallel story track, the Mukti Bahini, under the charge of Farooq (veteran film actor Shahid) and Jabbar (Shamoon Abbasi) launch their India-funded campaign to sever East Pakistan from West Pakistan.

Kamran Shahid gets much right out of the gate and what he doesn’t, he wrangles and contorts to fit his story. The fitting shows its seams but functions reasonably.

Keeping the love story at the forefront, Kamran treats history with a referential view that’s heavily tinted by the Pakistani lens. With exception to one lone character, every Bangladeshi in HTA is backed by India, so they’re one-dimensional evil.

While Shahid is mediocre at best, Shamoon Abbasi chews up the scenery as the Mukti Bahini commander who has no problem sneaking between countries. Slipping in commendable nuances when possible, the actor finally gets ample screentime in a film he is not headlining.

Alyy Khan, in the guise of a Pakistani military officer, is the patriotic speech master and the gung-ho nemesis to Shamoon’s vile villain. The character representing the Pak armed forces gets an appearance in almost every action sequence, but has no backstory.

The rest of the cast, including Ayesha Omer, Samina Peerzada, Adnan Jillani and Mehmood Aslam are wasted in bit parts. Peerzada and Jillani, in particular, are quite bad.

Of the two leads, Sadia Khan never rises above okeydokey. However, her co-actor Mikaal Zulfiqar rules the roost as the handsome hero.

Contrary to his work on television — with its necessary long pauses, drawn-out dialogue delivery and the dramatic reaction shots — Mikaal transitions quite well into an old-school “filmi performance” of a hero.

And yes, even with its yucky yellow-toned lighting design (the colours could’ve been neutralised during the colour grade), the almost static camerawork or the shot or two of bad visual effects (most of them are fine), and the overindulgence of songs, HTA still manages to hold the stylistic flair of a big-screen movie — albeit, one that belongs to a decade long past.

Released by Mandviwalla Entertainment, Huay Tum Ajnabi is rated U. Despite the indulgent scenes and songs featuring courtesans and the red-light district, the film is suitable for audiences of all ages

Published in Dawn, ICON, April 30th, 2023