Moor: A Film About Pakistan

By Isbah Khalid: A man walking in thick snow with huge snow garbed mountains encompassing the view around him; a train moving past in the tracks some feet away, beautiful grey sky stretching across the horizon- what better could describe the beauty that is our Balochistan. The trailer of Moor starts off with this scene and what is more gripping is the background music; it has that depth to it that vibrates inside the cage and gives a person goose bumps.

Written and Directed by Jamshed ‘Jami’ Mahmood, the film is set to wow the audience on 14^th August, 2015. The idea of this beautiful project was although conceived very early yet it took time to bring a fragment of Jami’s imagination into the real world and by the looks of it was worth the wait. Moor was originally titled as ‘Wahid’ but then the name was changed to Moor on the insistence of the producer Nadeem Mandviwalla.

Wahidullah Khan is a patriarch played by Hameed Sheikh, who has films like Khuda Kay Liye and Operation 021 under his belt, selected for this major role by Jami himself. Earlier Shabbir Rana was given this role but on the director’s request he was opted out since the filming schedule was quite laborious and grueling. Samiya Mumtaz is seen in all her glory acting like she always does- with an intensity that is quite rare- and as always she is not going to disappoint.  The rest of the cast includes Samiya Mumtaz, Shaz Khan, Ayaz Samoo, Shabbir Rana, Sonya Hussain and Ayaz Samoo.

The film looks beautiful and not only in the scenic beauty it has successfully captured but in the beauty of intensity delivered by the actors, the background score whose chords were perfected by none other than the super talented ‘Strings’. The music seems deep, unearthly and has a rhythm that shakes and rattles something inside. Edited over and over until it was pitch perfect the music is something that has definitely added that extra cherry on the top. The exquisite song Kothbiro is featured in the trailer and it is something totally soulful and exotic.

Moor means “mother” in Pahsto and this film has been dubbed as “film about Pakistan” by Jami and rightly so, as it portrays everything this beautiful country holds dear; it is about principles, family loyalty and most of all the land we belong to and is a very empathetic film. The director has dedicated the film to the loving Baloch who have shed so much blood for this country yet only got ‘blood, tears and sad levels of anarchy’ in return. With more films like this Pakistan film industry will surely experience a rebirth and rise like a phoenix from the ashes. Stay tuned for more!