During the sixties and Seventies, on both sides of the border, films were publicised as much as a writer’s or director’s film, as an star’s stuff. In Pakistan, Anwar Kamal Pasha, Luqman, Riaz Shahid and Shabab Kiranvi were pinned with posters of the films, while in India, Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, Guru Dutt, Asif Kareem known as K Asif, and Saleem- Javed were known for their powerful scripts. Therefore, it was nice to see Fasih Bari Khan being feted for his realistic script of Saat Din Mohabbat In (SDMI).

Way ahead of the others, SDMI shows us that, once again, despite some flaws, the script is vital to any film. One can easily say that if a film like Karachi se Lahore, or for that matter, Na Band Na Barati had worked on their scripts, they’d have earned more money and respect in equal measures. In SDMI, you can see that the local channel drama has come a long way into making cinematic drama a possibility. And once again, Fasih puts characterisation into perspective. It has already been said that Mahira in the role of a mohallah girl looks so perfect as if she was born to do this!

The film has earned over 10 crores uptil now, and going strong. Azaadi, a mediocre script, and no action scenes to crow about, has done better than average job. In this context, the director has introduced some good scenes, but lots of credit goes to the energetic work by Momy Rana. His vocal range has definitely gone from strength to strength. Earlier, even in the Punjabi cinema days, where Shaan and Momy squared off, Momy did not have this baritone. His authoritative work as a leader of the brigade is surely appreciable, with good delivery, and emphasis at the right places. That’s why the film has earned munasib maal.

So, the counter registers the score: 1-1. One TV group film, and one Lollywood film!

As for Wujood, it was one disappointment of the lot. In the first half, they wasted a lot of time on typical film songs, which I thought was a segment over and done with in the Eighties. There was nothing novel in these songs, which is wastage of celluloid. Moreover, Danish Taimoor isn’t such a popular lead to be at the centre of it all. The three senior artistes should have been given the shouldering from the beginning, which wasn’t the case.