Review | Mehrunisa V Lub U… Really, We Do (We Do, Don’t We?)

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Kamran Jawaid | This review is the unedited copy of version published in Dawn Icon on Sunday, July 9 2017

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From the moment we first meet Mehrunisa (Sana Javed), you know things aren’t going to get any better for her.

Jolting up from a nightmare where she runs from three badly-dressed ghouls (actually, three men in uncut black fabric), Mehru is your token gentle girl-next-door who lives with dear old dad (Arshad Mehmood) on a mountainside cabin somewhere in Northern Pakistan.

In the past, she may have innocently said “I Lub U” to a boy from Karachi.

That could be the reason for her bad dreams, because the sod, now grown up as Danish Taimoor, comes back to ask her hand in marriage. And his family will not take no for an answer.

Childhood promises have dire repercussions.

DAWN ICON | The Chinese Connection

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Kamran Jawaid  |  The post is the unedited copy of the feature published in DAWN’s ICON on 16th April 2017, which can be read here with jpegs of the print copy at the end.

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Studio logos that appear in movie titles may feel rudimentary, but they tell a story of their own. Take, for example, The Great Wall – a monster-movie starring Matt Damon set in the past when the world had yet to discover gun-powder.

Before the first frame fades-in we see four logos: Le Vision, Legendary East, Atlas Entertainment and the China Film Group. Three out of these four film companies are Chinese – and their partnership makes The Great Wall one of the most evident, big budget Hollywood-China co-productions in the last few years.

Oscar Predictions 2016 – Images on Sunday, Dawn Newspaper

This post is the unedited copy of our Predictions of the 88th Oscars for Dawn/Images on Sunday, published 28th February 2016. Link to Dawn is here and below.

Who May Win the 88^th Oscars Tomorrow

By Mohammad Kamran Jawaid and Farheen Jawaid

Before the righteous, controversial and ill-timed #OscarsSoWhite hashtag rears its head at the 88^th Academy Awards tomorrow and wrecks the mood of Oscar ceremony, Images takes its annual look at who may win – and more importantly, just why they may win – in which category.

Oscar Predictions 2015–Dawn, Images on Sunday

The following article is published in Dawn, Images on Sunday on the 22nd of February of 2015 here and here.

Who May Win the Oscars Tomorrow

By Mohammad Kamran Jawaid and Farheen Jawaid

Democracy, it seems, will make the Oscar guessing game a challenging exercise this year. So far, apart from a select few categories, a significant number are in disarray because of eligibility regulations in guilds, individual interpretation of placements (especially in both screenplay categories), and shocking snubs.

The series of shudders keep getting bigger, even though by this late in the award season the more respected of the ceremonies are done and over with.

Boyhood, a power-house destined for Oscar greatness, is seriously butting-heads with Birdman, which popped-up to secure wins in all the prestigious guild awards. Richard Linklater, once a shoe-in for Best Director is against Alejandro González Iñárritu. Alternately in Best Picture, Birdman is set to beat Boyhood. But then again, it’s also highly likely that Iñárritu may win Director and Picture would go to Birdman.

Other messed-up awards fall in Adapted Screenplay, Score (probably the most ingenious and competitive of all categories), Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Foreign Film nominations.

Oscar Predictions 2014–The 86th Annual Academy Awards

This post is the unedited copy of the feature article published in Images on Sunday, on the 3rd of February 2014. The originals copy is linked and attached below.

The Oscar’s, Come Tomorrow

By Mohammad Kamran Jawaid and Farheen Jawaid

Every year, right about this time, we ask ourselves the annual, perennial, question: So, who do you think will win at the Oscars?

Animadversion: 12 Years a Slave by Kamran Jawaid

This post is the unedited copy of the review published in my column Animadversion on 24th November 2013. The edited copy and the links are at the end of the post.

Freedom

By Mohammad Kamran Jawaid

Many scenes compel you to squinch in “12 Years a Slave”, the adaptation of Solomon Northup’s 1853 autobiography about the most common of global racial injustices: slavery.

Movie Review: Josh (Against the Grain) by Farheen Jawaid for Images On Sunday

This post is the unedited copy of the review published in Images on Sunday, 9th of August 2013.

Trouble in Khuda Ki Basti

By Farheen Jawaid

A real life story told in film, Josh is about a young woman’s struggle to end oppression in a place called “Khuda Ki Basti”.

Animadversion: The Wolverine by Farheen Jawaid

This review was published on the 4th of August 2013 in Images on Sunday (Dawn Newspaper). The post is an unedited copy.

His Claws Are Out — Again!

By Farheen Jawaid

In The Wolverine (an innovatively titled sequel, if there was one), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has nightmares – and that’s the least of his worries. He also has to become an unwilling pawn in a family struggle, and contend with some limp storytelling in the process. Despite all this stacking up against him, The Wolverine is an entertaining action film that does not disappoint often.

Animadversion: The Lone Ranger by Kamran Jawaid

This review was published on the 4th of August 2013 in Images on Sunday (Dawn Newspaper). The post is an unedited copy.

Masked Rider; Storybook Western

By Mohammad Kamran Jawaid

There’s a way writing about movies work.

When watching a movie a reviewer, often though not always, finds himself in a mood setup by the strenuously designed ambiance of a motion picture whose budget alone would feed a couple of hundred million families for a decent number of months (dependent, of course, on how you well stretch the dollar). And while the payoff-feel certainly depend on the intelligence and whim of the its makers (or the mood of the reviewer at the time), sometimes the producer’s own sense of personalization either helps jump over – or right into – potholes dug by their own preference of what the audience would like to see.

Animadversion: Turbo by Farheen Jawaid

This review was published on the 4th of August 2013 in Images on Sunday (Dawn Newspaper). The post is an unedited copy.

Zooming Snails at the Indy 500

By Farheen Jawaid

DreamWorks Animation’s “Turbo” has an absurd, and yet highly optimistic, premise about a small snail and his big dream of racing in the Indy 500. Talk about the unachievable, right?!