Bol | |
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Directed by | Shoaib Mansoor |
Produced by | Shoman Productions |
Written by | Shoaib Mansoor |
Starring | Humaima Malik Atif Aslam Mahira Khan Iman Ali Shafqat Cheema Manzar Sehbai Zaib Rehman Amr Kashmiri |
Music by | Atif Aslam Shoaib Mansoor Sajjad Ali Ahmed Jahanzeb |
Distributed by | Geo Films Eros International Ltd. |
Release date(s) | June 24, 2011(Pakistan) August 31, 2011 (India & United Kingdom) |
Country | Pakistan |
Language | Urdu Punjabi |
Bol (Urdu: بول; translated variously as Say, Tell, Speak or Talk) is a 2011 Urdu-language social drama Lollywood film written, directed and produced by Shoaib Mansoor. The feature film was released on 24 June 2011.[1] The film stars Humaima Malik,[2] Atif Aslam, Mahira Khan, Iman Ali, Shafqat Cheema, Manzar Sehbai, Zaib Rehman and Amr Kashmiri in the lead roles. There was heavy scepticism about whether or not Atif Aslam would be able to meet the requirements of his role when he was first announced as the lead.[3]
Atif Aslam, who features in the film as a doctor,[4] in an interview stated, "I have done two songs for the soundtrack. It’s been a great experience working with Shoaib Mansoor, he is an amazing person and very dedicated. My role isn’t controversial and we discussed it beforehand. It’s a film that is being made for a good cause".[5] The film was reviewed by the Central Board of Film Censors in Lahore on 8 November 2010 and received its approval the next day.[6] Bol is set in Lahore and many students from National College of Arts' (NCA) filmmaking department have assisted Shoaib Mansoor on it.[7]
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The film starts by showing the protagonist, Zainab (Humaima Malik) is about to be hanged. She decides to tell her story right before she is hanged. She grew up with 6 sisters, a mother and a father. The father always wanted a son so that the son could help with the financial issues of the family, since he doesn't believe in women doing jobs. They end up having a transexual son, named Saifi. The father (Hakim) doesn't like Saifi because of his gender, but saifi is deeply loved by the rest of his family. Zainab's mom keeps giving birth to babies that are born dead, so Zainab get an operation done for her where she can no longer have babies. When Hakim finds out, he gets very mad. One day, Zainab sees Saifi dressed in women's clothes, and gets disturbed. Her friend Mustafa (Atif Aslam)is a singer and is in medical school. He likes Zainab's sister Ayesha (Mahira Khan) and they both sing and play the guitar together, but they have to hide that from Hakim, since he doesn't like Mustafa's family because they are Shia. Hakim owns a small pharmacy sort of place and is approached by a man, who asks Hakim to teach Quran to children, since Hakim is a very religious man who has bonds with the Masjid. Hakim initially refuses because the man is a Kanjar, meaning that he gets women to dance and to other bad things with guys. Meanwhile the masjid gives Hakim some money to keep, since they believe Hakim is very trustworthy. Mustafa gets Saifi a job at a place where they paint trucks. He is harassed there because of his gender. One day he gets raped, and another transexual finds him on the floor and takes him home. Hakim overhears Saifi telling his mother and Zainab what happened to him. Later on when everybody is asleep, Hakim gets a plastic bag and suffocates Saifi to his death. He must bribe the police officer to keep what happened a secret by two lak. Hakim is forced to take the money out of the masjid funds. Ayesha and Mustafa both go to a concert and both sing and are loved by the crowd. Mustafa's father approaches Hakim for Mustafa and Ayesha to get married, but Hakim refuses since Mustafa is Shia. The masjid asks for the funds, and Hakim doesn't have enough money. He is forced to go to the Kanjar's house to get the money back. He washes it thinking that it is dirty, when he gets home. Teaching the kid's Quran isn't giving him enough money, so Saqa Kanjar gives him another option. He must get married to Hakim and have a baby with Mina (Iman Ali) who is one of the prostitutes and is the Saqa's oldest daughter, since he keeps on having girls and Saqa believe that it is the men who creates the gender. Zainab gets Ayesha and Mustafa married since Hakim found another man at the masjid and wants to get Ayesha married to that man. Simultaneously, Hakim marries Mina. When Hakim finds out about Ayesha's marriage, he is furious but can't do anything about it. Mina has her baby, and it is a girl meaning Saqa gets to keep it. Hakim begs Mina to give him the baby so that the baby doesn't have to face a horrible future. Saqa overhears and kicks Hakim out. Later on Mina comes to give Hakim the baby. When the mom asks who that women was, she takes him in a room and tells him that he married her. She freaks out and starts screaming at him, and he beats her up. The mother tells the kids what happened, and Zainab insists they all leave the house and move somewhere to start a new life. At night, Saqa comes to take the daughter, since Mina was not supposed to give it to Hakim. Hakim tries to kill the daughter to keep the daughter from a horrible future, but he is killed by Zainab by a fatal blast on the head. They hide the baby and Zainab tells Saqa that Hakim killed the baby and threw her out somewhere, and that she killed Hakim, which is why she is being given the death penalty. Now back in the present, a reporter keeps trying to prove she is innocent, but is unable to. Zainab ends by asking that why is only killing a sin? Why isnt being born one? Then she is hanged. The president sees the reporter's newscast that ends with that question and schedules a meeting with the title the same as the question. In the end, the daughters open up a restaurant called Zainab's Cafe, which becomes very successful. They also raise there new sister, Mina's daughter.
Bol was released on June 24, 2011 under the banner of Geo Films. The film established a new box office record in Pakistani cinema. It became the highest earning film in Pakistan in its first week of release, breaking all previous records.[8] The previous record was held by Bollywood movie My Name Is Khan, which grossed PKR 13.417 million in its first week, whereas Bol did a business of PKR 62.792 million in six days.[9] In two weeks, the total gross revenue of the film from 24 screens amounted to PKR 94,287,090.[10] Bol also collected 2,80,00000 from 75 screens in India.[11]
Bol was released in India, United States, Canada, United Kingdom,U.A.E and Australia on 31 August 2011.
In September 2011, the Times of India reported that Sahara One network has bought seven-year satellite rights of 100 films, including Shoaib Mansoor's Bol for Rs 70 crore.[12]
Bol received highly positive reviews from critics. Taran Adarsh of BollywoodHungama gave the film 4/5 describing it as "A brilliant film embellished with bravura performances".Likewise, Komal Nahta gave the film 4/5 by going on to describe the film as "topical and thought-provoking".Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film 3 on 5 stating that the "message that the film delivers is urgent, heartfelt and of considerable import".
budget 2 crors box office 96 crors
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