I consider myself to be an all-round modest guy. I certainly don't pretend to be something i'm not. However, seeing this 137 min flick, i am fairly certain i would've done a better job at directing while still making enough time for afternoon chai back at home. The film takes us on a rather loop-holed journey into the life of a young salary-man and his posse of two- dimensional friends who, despite our central character's consistent verbal insults and slurs, manage to brush everything off for a 36 hour road trip to crash his 'evil' ex's wedding. I use apostrophes because the only thing resembling something bad she did was prolong their inevitable breakup. Joining in is a girl-next-door who goes through the biggest and fastest personality u-turn (like..literally 15 hours) in the film..and not even in a good way. From a fiercely independent young women to a urban-hipster wannabee ready to put on her ghaghra and dance the night away. I feel a bit silly writing such a serious review for such a light-hearted attempt , which brings me to the headline: While i did go into the movie with reasonably high expectations, it soon became apparent that they were for naught and by the 15th minute i started to view it as a prolonged infomercial courtesy of Hbl and Cornetto (a courtesy that i was reminded of every 10 minutes or so). And to my surprise, i actually caught myself enjoying a few (emphasis on few) punchlines. Moti, the only character worth mentioning, and a few well-timed songs are two sole things standing in between this film and a 1-star review...at least in my humble opinion. Long story short 'best to lower your expectations going in'. Maybe even think of it as an over-budget amateur film instead of a short-budget mainstream one. Might save you the second-hand embarrassment.
Review of Karachi Se Lahore
