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Masand's Verdict: Khuda Kay Liye 
Published on Sat, Apr 05, 2008 at 00:45, Updated on Sat, Apr 05, 2008 at 09:34 in Entertainment section
Tags: Khuda Kay Liye, Shoaib Mansoor , Cast
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Cast: Shaan, Fawad Khan, Iman Ali, Naseeruddin Shah, Alex Edwards
Direction: Shoaib Mansoor
It's difficult to talk about Khuda Kay Liye as merely another new film at the multiplexes. When I first saw it at the International Film Festival of India in Goa last November, I came away truly amazed. It's not only the most important film to come out of Pakistan for as long as one can remember, it is, more importantly the most relevant mainstream film on Islam that you've possibly seen.
Directed by Shoaib Mansoor, Khuda Kay Liye is a brave and inherently honest film that addresses pertinent issues like Islamic fundamentalism, the status of women in contemporary Islam, the consequential effects of 9/11 on Muslims in America, and the divide in Pakistani society between the liberals and the extremists.
At its very core, however, Khuda Kay Liye has a single and very clear message — that Islam is a progressive religion, but its teachings are often manipulated by fundamentalists.
The film follows the lives of two brothers in Lahore, both musically inclined. The younger, Sarmad is brainwashed by a radical Muslim cleric into believing that music is against Islam. Distancing himself from his art, he abandons his family and joins a fundamentalist group in a village in the outskirts.
Misled into believing that he'd be upholding the honour of Islam by doing so, Sarmad agrees to be married to his London-bred cousin Mary against her wishes, and on the insistence of her hypocrite father who wants to end her relationship with an English boyfriend.
On the other hand, Sarmad's older brother Mansoor, a liberal, signs up for music school in Chicago where he finds his soul mate in Janie, an American. All's going well for them until 9/11 happens and Mansoor is wrongly accused of having terrorist links only because he's a Muslim.
Despite its obvious flaws — which includes some amateurish acting, modest production values for a film of this scale, and more than a few creative liberties in the plot — Khuda Kay Liye is still an immensely engaging film because it's made from the heart.
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URBANEYE
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Dear Mr Sri Ram, just one advice. Take off your saffron-tainted glasses before watching the movie.May be then you would
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Friends, I guess we should be watching this movie without a prec-cursor that it's from Pakistan. Also it is not
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Wrong message mate the film is no better that a documentry and the acting is very poor but then you
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Awesome movie....
no one in world should miss this one
I agree with Rajeev on ones heart crying for Mary, Samrad.
Feel like
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I amazed that wether Pakis can make such a class movie, music was awesome and the role of Shaan was
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