Hyped as Pakistan’s much awaited venture capable of reviving their film industry, BIN ROYE had big expectations to fulfill both in Pakistan and India. But sadly it couldn’t get a decent release in our country because of a ban imposed in Maharashtra and only one show release in the few major cities finding no audience due to lack of information or publicity.
Talking about India in particular, the one and only factor responsible to create some sort of curiosity for the film remained its lead star Mahira Khan, who was simply loved by the Indian audience in the TV serial HUMSAFAR aired at Zindagi Channel. The talented actress is also fondly remembered by those lucky ones who had seen her in the masterpiece creation BOL released a few years back. And as per the latest news, the girl has bagged a major role in an upcoming Shah Rukh Khan movie too which is nothing short of a life-time opportunity in her rising film career indeed.
BIN ROYE is said to be based on Farhat Ishtiaq's novel BIN ROYE AANSOO that surprisingly has an ages old ‘seen before’ plot of two sisters falling for the same boy. Though the novel might be a great read with its own engrossing detailing and much more, the film isn’t an exceptional one considering its weak story progression, many major flaws and weird sudden jumps in time periods. Moreover with all those tears shed constantly on screen in its later half, the title loses all its meaning as ‘Bin Roye’ that literally means ‘without crying’.
Beginning on a sweet note, there is too much happening too fast in its first half and the entirely predictable love triangle kills the excitement of watching something fresh within the opening hour itself. The story quickly moves through years without any visual justification and many characters get introduced only to be forgotten soon in the next scenes. For instance, I am still thinking for what purpose that young boy was brought in dancing in the wedding song along with Mahira indicating towards some new ‘love possibilities’. In short, depending entirely on Mahira alone, BIN ROYE keeps progressing on a familiar path for an hour. But then just before the intermission, we have a well-enacted and directed emotional-breakdown scene that strongly makes a promise of something better coming ahead.
The second half commences with new hopes of seeing a fresh breakthrough happening in the clichéd plot. But an unexpected accident shatters all those hopes soon and the film goes back to the same old pattern of a love triangle heading towards a routine climax focusing on a silent relationship developing between its two lead characters fighting with their own inner tragedies.
However despite having the above mentioned major drawbacks and predictable story developments ignoring many important points such as the child and more, BIN ROYE doesn’t actually allow you to rate it as a forgettable venture due to three visible merits overcoming its weaker points.
Firstly it’s the emotionally powerful act by Mahira, who simply excels in her portrayal of guilt-ridden soul unable to feel the power of love anymore. The girl not only looks gorgeous on screen with her simple yet adorable presence, but also wins your heart with a powerhouse performance depicting the contrasting emotions felt by her character post intermission. No doubt she is going to be a major highlight of SRK’s new film coming soon.
Secondly, BIN ROYE makes a stunning visual impact on the viewers through its rich colourful frames, eye-catching costume designing, beautiful art-direction and soothing background score, making it aesthetically appealing. And one truly feels like watching something great in terms of cinematography, capturing even the close ups quite artistically making you feel the pain.
Thirdly it’s the film’s catchy and likable soundtrack with many enjoyable tracks infusing new energy into the film at regular intervals. In fact a major reason why BIN ROYE becomes a decent watch remains its songs played in the backdrop just at the right moment like O Yaara, Maula, Tere Bina Jeena and more. As a matter of fact, for some unknown reasons, the composers across the border always manage to find the melody in their songs much better as per my personal opinion.
To sum it all, yes BIN ROYE hasn’t got a novel storyline and also features many not so impressive supporting acts from Humayun Saeed, Armeena Rana Khan, Zeba Bakhtiar (of RK’s Heena fame) and even Javed Sheikh (who is just wasted as the father). Still directors Momina Duraid and Shahzad Kashmiri successfully manage to keep the viewers thoroughly engrossed with their other visual & musical merits mentioned above and the film truly deserves to be seen by the Indian audiences for sure (who actually haven’t witnessed an emotional love saga in Bollywood since the last decade or even more).
Unfortunately, in absence of any mention in the leading newspapers or media channels, almost 95% of the interested viewers remained uninformed about its India release this week causing a big loss both in terms of business as well as a decent cinema unable to reach its target audience. So do try to watch BIN ROYE post its home video release after a couple of months, especially for Mahira Khan and the musical-visual treat offered by its director duo from Pakistan.
Rating : 3 / 5
