There is something so crass about this Wajahat Hussain directorial that watching it any longer feels like a personal debasement. Whenever I see the promo of Khuda Aur Mohabbat 3 (KAM3) I hope to witness the narrative to move forward. But unfortunately, all my excitement goes down the drain. Watching the so-called block buster is like entering into a five-star hotel for a lavish meal, but all what we get is an Anday Wala Bun Kabab. Hussain erroneously assumes that the viewers will lap anything in the form of a regressive, old-school lover story helmed by a bunch of good actors. Not just the drama is mirthless but also it is tone-deaf. It is designed to test the patience and waste a good forty minutes of the entire nation.
What ails KAM3? Let’s figure out
The Culprit Script
Seriously, what was going in writer Hashim Nadeem’s mind while writing this apology of a script? Was there any payment issue by the production house? What is the purpose of serving an old school, one-sided love story especially in the age of digital? No amount of opulence can ever substitute a riveting script. Let’s ignore this fact for a moment; what’s even more disastrous is the unnecessarily dragged narrative. Instead of coming to the point, straight away he makes you run in circles and circles. The lenggggghty-unwanted scenes go on and on. It feels like you boarded a direct flight to the US and the airline suddenly decides to pit stop at Dubai, Milan and London in between. You get frustrated!
The Shaky Directions
Just like the script, Wajahat Hussain’s directions are shaky. Before the play went on air, Iqra Aziz wrote a heartfelt note on Instagram and labeled Wajahat as the Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Citing reasons that he was vigilant on various accounts, be it the minute detailing onset, the look, the wardrobe of the actors, etc. Amid all this, it seems that Hussain forgot to focus on the main job ‘the direction’. He fumbled with the entire ‘Iddat‘ sequence. Why was Mahi (a widow) roaming around freely in the house? She abruptly comes in front of Sikandar, and does the household work despite having a workforce of servants. Strange! Sunita Marshall in an interview to somethinghaute accepted the ‘bhand’ (flaw) with the inconsistency of her character’s dressing. There were continuity flaws, in one scene, she is wearing a burqa. Then, in another, she does not have a dupatta over her head. A drama like KAM3 is designed to internalize the traditional depiction of love, slow moments and grand sacrifices. Here the problem arises; when the makers are too much consumed by the ‘look’ and ‘feel’, and the storytelling takes a back seat. In fact, one question I repeatedly found myself asking was, where’s the logic?
The Over Enthusiastic Production House
7th Sky Entertainment is well known for fueling its projects with lavish budgets. This time around, they have placed their bets on the wrong contender. They seem to have taken the viewers for granted. KAM3 is undeniably beautiful. The cinematography is top-notch. The costumes, sets, locales and camera work is a visual treat. Feroze Khan and Iqra Azia perform wonderfully but all of this cannot save this sinking ship, thanks to the poor script. In addition, the over enthusiastic PR team left no stone unturned to promote the projects via unlimited blogs on every teaser, trailer and OST release. The pre-hype work does bring in the initial YouTube views, top trending’s and TRP’s. Sadly, that too couldn’t rescue this incredibly lackluster product. By far, KAM3 is one of the weakest ventures to come out of the 7th Sky banner.
Final Word
With each passing episode, Khuda Aur Muhabbat 3 is becoming a frustrating experience. One wonders how a product with so much talent can feel so drab. All said and done, we sincerely hope that the upcoming episodes would be back on track.
