A prerequisite before enjoying ‘Bol’ is an open mind. But even for the
lead-lined mind of the zealot, just the sensory input of the film could
break a steel-web or two. And staunch liberals might feel whiplashed at
times as well.
Director Shoaib Mansoor insists that we talk. All that he brilliantly directs happens rampantly, but Pakistanis know not to talk about it. Our taboo issues are learned as if by rote and almost every issue raised in the film is where angels fear to tread.
The reviews were so wonderful and most films disappoint, for a movie, like life, is really all a matter of expectations. Not ‘Bol’. It is amazing that one film could mirror Pakistani society and tackle taboo issues so successfully. The art and savvy of the film is not its plot, for most of it is easy to predict; it is the depth, the dialogue and deep heartache that the lives of the characters create within you that makes you want to see it again so that you can savour what you surely missed the first time around.
While Pakistan is one of the few nations of the world that recognises transvestites as a third gender, their ridicule is a given. Theirs is a mould that was predominantly created by society and has unfortunately continued to be filled and characterised today the way it was centuries ago. Recognition as a third gender is present in the law but again, like all things in Pakistan, the law is useful only when cases of murder and gross usurpation of rights have to be fought in court. Societal bias and ridicule have not changed an iota and this is addressed very successfully in the film. When a child with gender confusion is born in a Pakistani family, hell does break loose. And this is the most heart-rending part of the film. In a single sentence of a single character the concepts of cross-dressing and homosexuality are challenged. Under the umbrella of religion, Pakistanis have stolidly ascribed the issues of cross-dressing and homosexuality to the environment; the film shatters this.
Patriarchy, intimidation and the preferential treatment scooped up by men is shown even in the small touches of the father getting mosquito net protection and the larger portion of food, but no one else, for the rest of the family is all women. Deprivation of education by the father and then ridicule for illiteracy is the typical double standard of numerous households. The practice of palming off endless daughters to any Tom, Dick or Harry and feeling the burden when the bad decision returns in the form of a divorce or under-educated or illiterate girls waiting a lifetime for Prince Charming is painful to see.
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Director Shoaib Mansoor insists that we talk. All that he brilliantly directs happens rampantly, but Pakistanis know not to talk about it. Our taboo issues are learned as if by rote and almost every issue raised in the film is where angels fear to tread.
The reviews were so wonderful and most films disappoint, for a movie, like life, is really all a matter of expectations. Not ‘Bol’. It is amazing that one film could mirror Pakistani society and tackle taboo issues so successfully. The art and savvy of the film is not its plot, for most of it is easy to predict; it is the depth, the dialogue and deep heartache that the lives of the characters create within you that makes you want to see it again so that you can savour what you surely missed the first time around.
While Pakistan is one of the few nations of the world that recognises transvestites as a third gender, their ridicule is a given. Theirs is a mould that was predominantly created by society and has unfortunately continued to be filled and characterised today the way it was centuries ago. Recognition as a third gender is present in the law but again, like all things in Pakistan, the law is useful only when cases of murder and gross usurpation of rights have to be fought in court. Societal bias and ridicule have not changed an iota and this is addressed very successfully in the film. When a child with gender confusion is born in a Pakistani family, hell does break loose. And this is the most heart-rending part of the film. In a single sentence of a single character the concepts of cross-dressing and homosexuality are challenged. Under the umbrella of religion, Pakistanis have stolidly ascribed the issues of cross-dressing and homosexuality to the environment; the film shatters this.
Patriarchy, intimidation and the preferential treatment scooped up by men is shown even in the small touches of the father getting mosquito net protection and the larger portion of food, but no one else, for the rest of the family is all women. Deprivation of education by the father and then ridicule for illiteracy is the typical double standard of numerous households. The practice of palming off endless daughters to any Tom, Dick or Harry and feeling the burden when the bad decision returns in the form of a divorce or under-educated or illiterate girls waiting a lifetime for Prince Charming is painful to see.
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