Botal Gali-Review (Herald Magazine-October 2006 issue)
By Salman Siddiqui
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Starring: Shahzad Nawaz, Aijaz Aslam, Akhtar Qayum, Anjum Shezad, Rashid Farouqi, Khalid Ahmed, Faisal Qureshi, Sohail Hashmi, Sonia Rahman, Raju Jamil, Shehryar Zaidi, Humayoun Saeed, Adnan Jilani, Adnan Siddiqui, Sonya Khan, and others.
At a time when the quality of Pakistani cinema appears to be declining, Botal Gali, a two-hour, 45-minutes long feature film, has rekindled hopes in the power of our own local productions. With this bold comment on the hypocrisy of Pakistani society, Shahzad Nawaz-who wrote, produced, directed and even acted in the film-has made a comeback after Daira, an adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s popular novel Moth Smoke.
Screened recently at a premier show in Karachi, Botal Gali takes inspiration from Dante’s epic poem Inferno, creating a fictitious brand of liquor titled Dante’s Vodka around which a weave of plots interconnect. In the original Italian masterpiece, Dante, accompanied by his guide, the Latin poet Virgil, begins his journey by passing through the Gate of Hell, over which is inscribed ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here’. Botal Gali starts with Zameer(Anjum), guiding the troubled soul of Babu (Akhtar), through the streets of Karachi in search for empty wine bottles. (By the way Botal Gali actually exists near downtown Karachi, where all types of empty bottles are sold and bought.)
For three decades after Partition, alcohol was freely available in the land of the pure, with the swinging 60s and 70s known for the swanky night clubs, and Go-Go Bars. That lasted till April 18, 1977, when the then prime minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, under pressure from the right winger Pakistan National Alliance(PNA)-an alliance of nine religious parties, announced an immediate ban on the sale of alcohol. Needless to say, the wine glasses never went empty even after that order. To date, the (black) market for foreign and local labels thrives, with bootleggers making sure no one is ever left wanting for such forbidden pleasures in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Shahid(Nawaz) and Zahid (Aslam) are two such Karachiite bootleggers in the movie, which is set in the year 2005. The tension between the two principal characters intensifies as alcohol supplies are disrupted due to tight security in the metropolis. The film shows how the raiders themselves keep the supply chain alive, with corrupt police officials selling confiscated bottles of Dante’s vodka to the bootleggers. The liquor then finds its way to the elite circles of the city that include everyone from advertising big wigs, television station owners, and aspiring actresses to philandering husbands and suicidal lovers. Dante's vodka is found everywhere, from charity balls to private parties and mujras. In a fashion similar to the Inferno’s Circles of Hell, where each stage allegorically represents different levels of sins for sinners, Nawaz too portrays the emptiness and self-deception of each sphere of Pakistani society as the movie plot progresses. Yet he also keeps the debate open, and doesn’t attempt to target specific individuals. Particularly interesting are the discussions on local drinking culture between the liberal Bazmi (Ahmed) and Sikendar (Zaidi), and the radically inclined Naushad (Jamil). With eerie music and Babu’s haunting presence looming in the background, the fates of all characters become tragically entangled, leading to a climactic and uncanny end.
Will Nawaz's effort be able to gain classic like status comparable to Sarmad Sehbai’s 1991 film ‘Fankaar Gali’, which was based on the lives of Karachi’s performing artists, or Faryal Gauhar ‘s1996 film Tibbi Gali that touched upon the taboo topic of Lahore’s infamous Shahi Mohallah? That remains to be seen. At the moment the film still awaits approval from Pakistan’s Censor Board. Meanwhile, screenings in India, the US and other countries abroad have already been scheduled for November or December. Local television and DVD releases are to take place around the same time.
The film lacks any conventional masala numbers, which may prevent it from achieving widespread commercial success. Nevertheless, Botal Gali must certainly be applauded for the original storyline, slick editing, excellent production quality and overall presentation. It is a commendable all-round effort by Nawaz, and it's encouraging to learn that the 38-year old is already in the process of making two more feature length films, one titled ‘52’, and the other a sequel called ‘Daira II-seven years later’.
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