Review of Verna

Whatever positive comment I might write, would be due to my bias towards Mr. Mansoor. To sum it up, this movie was the product of a muddled script which initially seemed to follow an appropriate route only to be strayed away from it later on in the film. Do not expect a 'Bol' or a 'Khuda Kay Liye'...this film cannot compete with their glory. It deals with the touchy topic of rape in a hypertensive country such as Pakistan in which this issue is extremely prevalent. In such cases, directors need to acknowledge that there must be no room for mistakes. Trust me; all the good dialogues were in the trailer and most of them you've probably heard in courtroom law movies and Pakistani dramas. In one instance she says the lines...'one I will not leave and the other I will not live with'...the latter was for her husband who she returns to immediately even after declaring she will not live with him. Most of the dialogues were just there for the dramatic effect, often serving no purpose. The movies' main theme, which I later calculated, was the idea that sometimes you have to take law in your hands. It all started with her heated encounter with the governor on his unwarranted action of blocking traffic and inducing 'protocol'. It triggers a nasty chain reaction in which his son kidnaps and rapes Mahira khan but later falls in love with her and attempts to pursue her. When she is returned, it is too late to establish she was raped hence she and her lawyer conjure up a plan to willingly go to the rapist again, spend the night there and rush to the clinic to get evidence right away. In an idealistic world, this might seem a bit weird, the heroine should be able to fight all odds, untouched and unblemished and not have to go back into the arms of her assailant. But this is Shoaib Mansoor, he writes realistic stories revolving social issues right? No. The movie states that in order for her to grasp justice, she must suffer again. Dare I say, it takes away and trivializes the trauma that actual rape victims go through-It often takes months and many years of psychological help to get over being kidnapped, tied and sexually assaulted. However, Sara's portrayal of a fearless victim is commendable and a breath of fresh air regardless of how poorly it was executed. In the end, she is unable to receive constitutional justice so she devises up a plan to kidnap the guy, use his phone to send a confession and then take him to her house where he will be killed by starvation (while the family enjoys a Hunza trip) and later on, cemented. How realistic is this? In a quest to be original, Mansoor drifts away from plot. In the end, it seemed more like a Horror/thriller/fantasy film rather than a social-problem film. Audience would rather have him exposed in front of the world in a magnificent and a more practical/realistic way. He DID receive a brutal punishment, it just seemed...incomplete.There was zero character development in the film. I am a woman and i left the cinema feeling indifferent towards Mahira. Instead of focusing on scenes of a troubled Haroon driving around in his red car, sitting by the fireplace, smoking a cigarette whilst feeling sad and dejected, the director should have focused on Mahira's ordeal but instead, much of screen time was wasted on what Haroon goes through, disregarding the entire essence of the movie- which is unveiling the victim's side of the story. Showing her exercise on the treadmill was not very substantial for the audience to emotionally connect with the character. In fact, during the first half the movie seemed to involve more around their marital affair as oppose to divulging into the abnormalities of society. Initially, Haroon is shown as a typical Pathan husband who indulges in victim blaming but miraculously after one advisory conversation with Mahira's lawyer (right after she tells him the plan which will take Mahira back to her assailant), his stance changes. The most imperative confrontation scene was missing- Mahira should have explained her rape ordeal and Haroon should have apologized and comforted her. This scene could've been a lesson for all the men watching. Instead, everything happened so quickly, one was left wondering whether the husband and wife are on good terms or not. Haroon's role comprised mostly of him frowning and mouthing one-letter words like 'What?!' 'Why?!' 'Where?!'…his lines could've been better written. The parents opposed Mahira till the end. Her father commits suicide in a twisted turn of events. Had he been killed, perhaps the audience would've sympathized with the situation more. It is uncanny to see a learned, rich, modern man who has raised his daughter as a strong-willed, independent working woman committing suicide when no premises or character development is established. Especially when the reason SEEMED to be Mahira's justified protest against her traumatic circumstance (still unclear why he really did it). It seemed like this part of the plot was forcibly inserted into the movie. They could've shown the parents as supportive but their characters were mindless, idle, which served no purpose whatsoever except paving way for the location where the rapist would be rested. (Her father was buried in the basement which was hidden by a noise-proof shelf. In the climax scene, Mahira takes her rapist to this very convenient secret location where he meets his fate) until the end, her mother indulges in victim- blaming and nothing is done about it. Mahiras character did not grasp my attention. She seemed hasty and quick-tempered. Where there was scope for acting in scenes involving aggression, she did okay but in simpler, mediocre scenes it was uncomfortable to watch her act. The closing scene mimicked political advertisements we see on Television (she advises the crowd to vote for the right people). All in all, a great disappointment