‘Money Back Guarantee’ just doesn’t cut it

When slapstick humour meets a case of mistaken id, puns and quirky phrase play, a comedy of errors is born. Faisal Qureshi’s Cash Again Assure creates a broth utilizing the identical components and peppers it with social messaging and political satire to savour the style. The now director’s model of humour isn’t new to followers of his writing in Teen Bata Teen. However maybe the world has moved on since…

Qureshi’s directorial debut, Cash Again Assure (MBG), which premiered in Karachi on Thursday, was the most-awaited movie to launch this Eidul-Fitr. With a star-studded ensemble forged that includes the likes of Fawad Khan, Hina Dilpazeer, Gohar Rasheed, Javed Sheikh, Mikaal Zulfiqar, Kiran Malik, Adnan Jafar, Ayesha Omar, amongst others, alongside debut actors Wasim Akram, Shaniera Akram, Muniba Mazari and George Fulton – it was touted to be a full-blown entertainer.

Set in a wierd land that feels part-Pakistan and part-New Jersey – truly shot in Karachi and Thailand – the movie explores the dichotomy of capitalism and socialism because it dabbles in quite a few societal issues, resembling corruption, VIP tradition, stereotyping, theft, political point-scoring, injustice and discrimination. It units the tone for a sure model of dramedy that’s each satirical and ridiculous. The beauty of Cash Again Assure is that it doesn’t take itself too severely because it gathers a motley crew of degenerates to hold its plot ahead, whereas mocking the very values it tries to instill.

These degenerates symbolize the assorted ethnicities of Pakistan as they try to shun whereas mockingly perpetuating stereotypes the society propagates about them – resembling Pushtoons being “dumb”, Christians being “Karanta, Choora” (slurs), Punjabis being “hungry,” and extra. Symbolism has been used at a stretch within the movie, with the setting taking jabs on the core values of the topics it inhabits.

SPOILERS ALERT!

Majority of the movie has been shot in Pak financial institution – a fictional financial institution that hosts the wealth of all of the corrupt politicians in Pakistan – with our crew of degenerates planning to rob it. Everybody’s blood has turned white – fairly actually, the Pakistani flag is represented by a WiFi sign, Pak financial institution’s design mimics the map of Pakistan with minor alterations to swimsuit the wealthy, because it ingeniously represents how every province and a part of the financial institution operates – or not. The “most safe” financial institution of the nation has been designed by a lawyer, not an architect. The one method to entry the thousands and thousands of rupees inside its cells? You guessed it; biometric! A portray of The Final Tremendous hanging contained in the financial institution has been superbly morphed to characteristic the grasping politicians of the nation, feasting on the poor. And the politicians have been performed by the identical actors enjoying the robbers-cum-rebels to suggest “Jesi qoum, wese hukumran.”

The plot of the movie revolves across the heist that our gang of amateurs set out for with the aim of reclaiming the folks’s cash. The plan, nevertheless, just isn’t foolproof and retains on altering because the robbers fail successively. Whereas that’s meant to be hilarious, it leaves the movie showing chaotic, virtually struggling to discover a middle. It additionally leaves a lot to the creativeness, and never essentially the issues that ought to have been left unattended.

The plot isn’t seamlessly weaved collectively. There are, the truth is, trigger and impact points and one can by no means decipher how or why somethings are taking place.

The characters, albeit, are effectively fleshed out. Fawad’s function as a cheapskate financial institution supervisor, Bux, who caters solely to the rich and listens solely to the highly effective is written to perfection. The actor additionally wears it like a glove as he lastly embodies a non-romantic, non-emotional, gray character, widening his performing scope and profession graph. His dialogue-delivery and maniacal expressions are stunning, to say the least.

Kiran, Gohar, Mikaal, Ali Safina, Afzal Khan – a part of the robber gang – show distinctive performing chops too. Sticking to his typical sidekick vitality, Gohar performs an unemployed goon that struggles to supply for his spouse. However in some way, his Sindhi accent doesn’t develop on you because the movie progresses. It is usually fairly painstaking to observe every of the robbers battle to talk in a selected accent to symbolize a selected ethnicity. It’s due to the demand to take action that the movie reinforces one other stereotype concerning the ethnicities represented.

And whereas that could be a inventive selection, provided that MBG additionally takes a dig on the method manufacturers are promoted in Pakistani movies to appease sponsors by doing the identical factor, the viewers’s skill to attach with the characters is compromised.

Wasim and Shaniera’s roles aren’t very demanding. In order debut actors, they shine. Mani tries too arduous to play circuit from Munna Bhai, or so it appears, whereas his accent additionally continues to bother.

There are moments within the movie that might have been reduce quick, and moments that the movie might have achieved fully with out. The opening scene, for instance, is just too lengthy and boring to grip the viewers in. The closing scene, or scenes, are too many to name the movie well-rounded. It’s as if the editors struggled to prioritise what to maintain and what to get rid of.

One thing movies directed by writers usually battle with is that they depart little room to breathe when it comes to dialogues. Turning into too verbose at occasions, with every character falling in love with the sound of their very own voice and each character having one thing to say. At occasions, there’s a lot social messaging that the message is misplaced. And as a substitute of counting on the actors’ comedian timing, the characters are made to present ques to snort.

All in all, Cash Again Assure could be watched for the range it provides when it comes to forged and characters, the awami comedy, the political jabs and positively the scope of manufacturing. However the movie might have been shortened at the very least half an hour, putting off intensive social commentary, saying of intentions and unsought resolutions. I used to be truly afraid ‘Umeed ki Kiran’ will develop previous — If you understand, you understand.

Have one thing so as to add to the story? Share it within the feedback beneath.