There’s always a lot of fun to be had when a film’s title can be spun to spoof whatever it might have set out to attempt. And there have been quite a few of these in recent times.
With Maan Jao Na, the puns write themselves. But it might be a good idea to do so before daring to sit through the 130 minutes of nothingness, by the end of which you might be too drained for anything, let alone anything that might require human intellect.
Therefore, the fact that Maan Jao Na could indeed be the film that producers are urging the cinema goers to go watch the movie is only pun-worthy till you actually imaging them doing the same to you. And, again, if this happens after you’ve endured it – especially in the immediate aftermath – you won’t be in the mood to find it particularly amusing.
In the past couple of months, Lollywood has churned out some absolute gems which have been handled with utmost care by film critics offering their ‘dutiful’ contribution to the ‘revival of Pakistani cinema’ by going exceedingly easy on the releases. The same has been witnessed by MJN, but the least one can do here is assure you that the softness on display might have been the hardest among any of the recent releases.
In a recent interview with a TV channel, the leading trio of the film Elnaaz Norouzi, Adeel Chaudhry and Ayaz Samoo described MJN as ‘disaster comedy’.
Never in the history of filmmaking has a film been described so accurately, by its own cast, in the build-up to its release.
The film is Iranian-born model Elnaaz Norouzi's debut in acting
The unintentional accuracy of the cast’s dubbing of the movie was matched accurately by the comedy that it did manage to create, which was every bit an unintentional as the filmmakers wouldn’t like to admit and every bit a disaster that they should have seen coming from miles away.
Best friends Rania (Elnaaz Norouzi) and Faris (Adeel Chaudhry) have opened a front against the institution of marriage, and vow to never take the plunge themselves. It is more a case of the former being sick and tired of the patriarchal baggage that accompanies marriage, for the latter is head over heels in love with the ‘bestie’.
Another man in love with Rania is her cousin Ghuji (Naeem Haque) who sends a marriage proposal her way via her parents.
What happens next, both in the short and long term, should be predictable for everyone – barring the filmmakers evidently – but as a courtesy to the reader who might be daredevil enough to take a plunge despite other films being on display over the weekend, the obvious shall remain unsaid.
But what we can tell you, is that whatever happens next also happens to involve Ayaz Samoo, Hajra Yamin and Ghana Ali.
Ghana Ali promoting the film
Maan Jao Na is the second straight film after Parchi where a female lead is not just tasked with saving a shipwreck – which evidently in the latter’s case has turned out to be a profitable venture – but also in which ideals of feminism are infused in the character, only to be belittled later on.
While in Parchi’s case this was less palpable, in MJN the entire film’s premise is to undo those very ideals. It is only then, once the film is over and done with, that you realise what ‘maan jao na’ was supposed to mean. And so you might realise that the film actually did leave no stone unturned in undoing whatever it could reach out for. And we haven’t even touched the ethnic and racial profiling just yet.
Maan Jao Na is the second straight film after Parchi where a female lead is not just tasked with saving a shipwreck but also in which ideals of feminism are infused in the character, only to be belittled later on
Another thing MJN shares with many of its peers is that acting is not its worst facet. Adeel Chaudhry isn’t bad in his transition from music to acting and Elnaaz Norouzi can even be considered good in many parts. Ayaz Samoo is expectedly decent but his character suffers from bad writing – much like pretty much everyone in the movie.
Marks could be had here for consistency, with music also being as substandard as virtually everything in the movie. However, the cinematography and visuals might even take that away from Maan Jao Na, for that is one facet where excruciating mediocrity was missing. n
