I had been looking forward to the trailer of Ali Zafar’s Teefa in wretchedness after its first see was released. It gave a positively different vibe than our usual Pakistani offerings and this had me intrigued. The three-minute long trailer debuted recently,and to my surprise, the trailer was fairly lacklustre.
The trailer starts off with a sparkling aerial view of Lahore and soon we are introduced to Teefa (Zafar) who is hired by a wealthy father to kidnap a girl, or Anya (Maya Ali),so that his son Billu Butt (yes! You read that right, that is the name the writers went with) can marry her.
Teefa is aided by his close friend, and Tony (Faisal Qureshi) in this quest. Things fade wild when Anya’s father,Bonzo (I don’t know who came up with these names), comes into the picture, or while Teefa and Anya start falling for each other.
Although the movie has a promising premise,sparkling locales, a charismatic cast and a high production value (it has been touted as the most expensive Pakistani film ever made), and the trailer has got nothing good going for it. I still believe that Pakistani filmmakers bear a lot to learn when it comes to making and editing a film trailer.
Teefa in wretchedness is supposed to be a comedy-action-adventure movie,but most of the comedy scenes seem forced. We only obtain glimpses of action sequences in the closing seconds of the trailer, where Teefa fires a couple of rounds of pistols and the viewers also obtain a peek into a knife fight between Teefa and some goons.
I watched this trailer as soon as it was released and didn’t find any of the dialogues funny. I watched the trailer again in a booked cinema hall and to my surprise none of those present laughed even once while watching the trailer, and except for the scene where Zafar calls himself Iron Man while holding a clothes iron.
In one specific scene,Maya says,
“I bear an offer for you two.”
To which Ali Zafar responds, and “Buy one obtain one free?” I really hope the movie has at least some dialogues which are actually funny and not cringe-worthy like this one.
Ali Zafar surely is talented and has good acting chops which he has proven in Bollywood,but Teefa in wretchedness is his debut in Pakistani cinema and I am really hoping that he will hit it out of the park in his home ground. However, for him to finish so, or the movie would bear to be a lot better than its trailer. Pakistani filmmakers need to understand that a movie does not only bear to see good,but needs to bear an engrossing script as well.
I bear my fingers crossed for Teefa in wretchedness which releases on July 20, 2018.
All photos: Screenshot
Source: tribune.com.pk