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'Khuda Kay Liye - In the name of God', which released today (Friday, April 4th) along with two other Hindi movies - 'Bhram ' and 'Shaurya', has a number of firsts to its credit. One, a Pakistani film is releasing in India and that too with Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah in a pivotal role. Two, it is produced and directed by debutant film director Shoaib Mansoor, a well-known television scriptwriter in Pakistan. Significantly, this film isn't new inasmuch as it was released in Pakistan last year and also screened in India at an international film festival. The film received the Silver Pyramid Award at the Cairo International Film Festival for 2007.

Mansoor who has written the script and songs has several reasons to release it in India. He says, "India has a very wrong understanding of Pakistan and Islam. They think Pakistan is an orthodox society, which is wrong. That this film has run to successful shows is a case in point. Our rigidity gets highlighted because the miscreants come on the road." The movie star cast comprises legendary writer-director Riaz Shahid and his wife legendry actress Neelo's son Shan and also model-turned-actress Iman Ali from Pakistan besides Bollywood top star Naseerudin Shah and Hollywood actress Austin Marie Sayre.

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The film is about the difficult situation in which Pakistanis in particular and the Muslims in general are caught up since 9/11. There is a war going on between the fundamentalists and the liberal Muslims. This situation is creating a drift not only between the Western world and the Muslims but also within the Muslim community. The educated and modern Muslims are in a difficult situation because of their approach towards life and their western attire. They are criticized and harassed by the fundamentalists and on the other hand the western world looks at them as potential suspects of terrorism just because of their Muslim names.

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The movie revolves around two musician brothers - Mansoor and Sarmad - one of whom transits into religious extremism and the other falls a victim to racial profiling. It depicts an upper middle class/rich family in Lahore with a mix of traditional and liberal values. The movie's plot starts somewhere in pre 9/11 timeframe and ends in late 2002. The brothers have their own music group and are shown as beginning to make a mark on the music scene in Pakistan. The younger brother (Sarmad) gets involved in an extremist company whereas the elder brother (Mansoor) moves to Chicago to attend a music school.

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Two more angles enter the movie where Mansoor gets into a romantic relationship in Chicago and eventually marries a white American and Sarmad deceitfully marries his British born and raised cousin. In the latter case, the UK based uncle of the boys, worried by the prospect of his daughter having an affair with a white British, traps her into a visit to Pakistan and sends her into an Afghan village where she is forcefully married. The movie moves into post 9/11 territory when Mansoor is picked up by law enforcement agencies in the middle of the night from his apartment and detained ostensibly in an extra- constitutional prison and humiliated in all ways. Sarmad on the other hand gets involved in the battle between Taliban, US forces and Northern Alliance.

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Performance-wise, Naseeruddin Shah does his job excellently. Being in the film industry for long Nasser knows how to tackle with situational scenes. For movie like 'Khuda kay Liye' Neseeruddin is the best choice. But on the other hand, Naseer looks terrible in close shots. So, there is an advice for Naseer to avoid close shorts. While the other star casts like Shan, Iman Ali, Fawad Khan, Austin Marie Sayre, Rasheed Naz, Simi Raheal and Hemeed Sheikh do their job quite well.

The movie has two/ three strong points: scripting is very good. Camerawork too needs applause. If we talk about the music part it too had a good mix specially song like Allah Hoo…., Mahi Way… and the title track Khuda Ke Liye.

On the whole, if some one wants to see a serious movie then 'Khuda Ke Liye' is the perfect choice.