Gul Makai

STORY: ‘Gul Makai’ chronicles the life and struggles of Pakistani Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, leading up to her notorious shooting in the hands of Taliban on October 9, 2012.

REVIEW: Born in a small hamlet named Mingora, near the beautiful Swat valley of Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai (Reem Shaikh) has been academically inclined from a tender age. But, despite her father Ziauddin Yousafzai’s (Atul Kulkarni) unwavering faith in her and his community, their world comes crumbling down when the anti-education extremist group, Taliban, hijacks their otherwise peaceful valley and puts an indefinite ban on education for the girl child.

The mood of ‘Gul Makai’ is focused on the brutality that the local town-dwellers were subjected to during the Taliban occupation of Swat. Its tonality emphasises on one little girl’s unabashed and unquenchable thirst to acquire knowledge – not just for her own sake, but for every other girl child around her. True, the subject of this biographical piece is fascinating but, H.E Amjad Khan’s approach towards the same does not translate onto the big screen. For one, the narrative is messy from the word go and although Khan tries to juxtaposition Malala’s inner turmoil with the war waged by the Talibans, he ends up concocting a story that is half-baked, and riddled with glaring flaws and discrepancies. And, barring seasoned actors Atul Kulkarni and Divya Dutta, the star cast (including the protagonist) has failed to deliver believable performances. In fact, Reem’s version of Malala neither renders a cathartic experience for its viewers, nor does it evoke any sense of real emotions. Also, the background score is a replica of the 80s war films in a not-so-flattering way and the haphazard writing goes on for 132 minutes, making ‘Gul Makai’ a tedious watch.

It is quite disappointing that the film does not mention any of the controversies Malala has courted along the way, which is hard to overlook given the fact that the film is biographical in nature.

‘Gul Makai’ could have been a very strong story, but the initial spark fizzles out when translated on screen; the takeaway here is close to nothing.