Media Magick

There was a time when Pakistani films used to have brilliant scripts and dialogue used to be hard-hitting, meaningful and power-packed; currently we, mostly, don’t watch come across Pakistani films which offer either good plots or script. Zulfiqar Sheikh and Tasmina Sheikh are prominent names from TV industry and they have launched their daughter Elysee Sheikh along with Humayoun Ashraf in Sacch. Sacch also features Asad Zaman Khan and senior actors like Javed Sheikh, Fazila Qazi, Nauman Masood, Ayesha Sana and legendary Uzma Gillani. Pakistani cinema industry is in dire need of a solid hit which offers both good content and impeccable performances, as 2019 was not a good year for Pakistani cinemas; let’s see what Sacch has in store for its viewers.

The story of Sacch is similar to 70’s and 80’s films (like Trishul, Saajan and others). One of the major blunders of Sacch is that its story and plot are very lousy and not even close to reality. So many questions are left unanswered and filmmaker thinks that audience will not go in to the detailing. The plot is based on lost and found elements, revenge and romance at the backdrop of family saga. And the depressing part is, Sacch doesn’t impress in under any category. The film is so rushed that it hardly grows on audience; characters are thrown one after the other in a hurry without developing their personalities. So, audiences do not connect with the characters during the emotional scenes. The climax is another huge disappointment; it is disjointed, very irrational and hasty.

Performance wise, it was upsetting to watch brilliant actors like Fazila Qazi, Javed Sheikh, Nauman Masood and Uzma Gillani essaying characters which they poorly perform either because of poor dialogue or because of badly executed scenes. They might give a decent shot here and there (strictly out of the blue) but the younger lot especially Elysee Sheikh needs diction classes. Elysee fails to speak Urdu in right pronunciation in an Urdu feature film that is quite alarming. Zulfiqar Sheikh and Tasmeena Sheikh are loud in every scene – the duo look out of place for odd reasons.

Asad Zaman Khan and Humayoun Ashraf both need some time and better directors to get the right emotions out of them; if they would have gotten better director they must have performed better than how they have in Sacch. Another reason why both male leads could not make an impact is the fact that their characters were not developed in the film.

Sacch is another letdown to come out of Pakistani film industry. Unfortunately, this film (like most of the previously released films this year), offers poor performances, below average script and music that is a total miss. If films like these keep releasing under the banner of Pakistani cinema, audience will again lose all their hope in the revival of Pakistani cinema and once again audience will stop going to cinemas to watch Pakistani films.