In the Name of God (2007)

We have all seen and heard about the dilemma- is music allowed in Islam or not? Khuda kay Liye has the same as a major plot point but delivers nothing new to the pro-music league of arguments. The fact that Prophet Dawood (pbuh) had "mousiki" is open to a two-forked interpretation- that he had only the singing gift and not music, so music might be still banned in Islam; and that he actually had the combined talent of both and music is permitted in Islam. More research and better proof are still required to resolve these arguments- and both can hardly be provided by means of commercial cinema. The musical score is the best I have heard in a long long time. Bandeya Ho and Allah Hoo give such a tug to your heart that you cannot help being mesmerized into a trance like state, while listening to them. Execution is sloppy in most parts but outstandingly brilliant in some. Especially the accent and "talaffus" of some actors is nothing sort of marvelous- worthy of note are the actors who played Moulana Tahiri and Mansoor's Father. But with these, the movie has its fair share of horrible acting performed by the characters Mary, her father and Mansoor. Mary is always toggling between her true native accent and the fake British one; which is kind of slightly amusing after a while into the movie. Her father, the loathsome characterization notwithstanding, makes you wish to hit him with a brick. And who ever says the actor who played Mansoor did well deserves a mental checkup. You just have to note the extreme weight issues, a single expression on his face, and the use of "You see...." again and again and again while talking in English with his girlfriend; to state that his acting was nauseating, at the least. Naseeruddin Shah did a fine job with his cameo, though his speech did seem to be kind of extempore, to me. The FBI Agent did a fine job too! Editing the movie removing the badly acted segments could have made it crisper and a better movie overall.

I Saw this today and was impressed by Shoaib Mansoor, again..............There were a few bits that were a bit overacted, and the editing could have been better in a few places but overall this is an excellent movie and a must watch for people who want to understand the dilemma that the average pakistani finds himself in, specially after 9/11.The music in the movie will move a lot of people. Even if you do not understand the words, you will still be moved. Personally i feel that shoaib should do more movies. He has a rare gift of bridging the cultural divide.

Khuda ke Liye means "in the name of god" deals with the problems Muslim youth facing today and the most important of them is culture clash between generations.beside being a very important movie,to see to understand many situations under which peoples life get affected wrongly,it is a very daring and courageous effort from makers of the movie.the main problem with cinema of India and Pakistan, they don't deal with problem of their own country but this movie does.the story of the movie revolves around a Pakistani Muslim family,two brothers,one living in Pakistan have two sons who want to become famous singers and another one have daughter living in America, i will not tell rest of story as i want you peoples from different countries to see this movie so that you can understand and this movie can give you lots of answers about terrorism and the situations and conflicts that affect the life of innocent peoples,how they are forced to do what they don't want to do,how a innocent man can accused of crimes he did not commit in a country like America.beside being based on such a nice story,the movie is filmed very beautifully and perfectly.i am still wondering how they achieved such level production quality.great acting and direction.a must watch,very important movie to understand what is going on "in the name of god"

A powerful script has been an enigma to Pakistani cinema for more than two decades now. Once this industry was ruled on the basis of powerful writing but this art was long forgotten until now. Shoaib Mansoor has worked really hard on the script, though there were a couple of loose ends to the script but the captivating second half keeps you at bay from anything lacking. Shoaib Mansoor; the director, has worked with quite a few D.O.Ps for this film and it clearly shows as the continuity is broken several times but all this can be ignored, thanks to some brilliant acting by Shaan and Naseerudin Shah. Fawad and Iman has done a commendable job given that it was their first film. There were some technical glitches as well but again nothing unforgivable. The film carries a very important message about not to stereotype things and also confronts the world to the fact that Islam is not about fanaticism. A religion cannot teach terrorism and Islam is no different it only teaches you love peace and submission. Islam means submission and how can submission be violent. The film confronts many ironies about the religion and is very well scripted. A definite watch for everyone, be it Muslim, Muslim Lover or hater!