Actor in Law (2016) User Reviews

International Standards: Average Movie; Pakistan Standards: Above Average

[mohidsing · 7/10 · 16 September 2016]

Well, I am one of those people who desperately urge Pakistan Cinema to revive. So if some movie does not add to that objective I feel sad about it and If any movie is doing good I kind of feel excited about it.

Talking specifically about this movie. There are goods and not-so- goods about it. In comparison to Pakistan movie standards for Direction, it was excellent. Song picturisation was neatly arranged, precise, having aesthetic values. All the songs were surprisingly catchy and fitted very well with situation. The short appearance of Nabil was refreshing and it was good to know that he could dance. The first half of the movie was funny and absorbing. Only for a moment, I felt it was dragging a little but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed it. We would not expect Nabil to lack on humor anyway. There are other things though that I will be discussing in the next paras. In addition to the humor, the idea of addressing public issues impacted well and helped in engaging the audience.

Movie after intermission where Nabil needed to take the story to Climax and give us a happy ending, everyone could see what's coming. There was no surprise. In fact, the only surprise was that there was no surprise at all. Still, movie took so much time to reach and get passed the obvious movements.

The script overall did not have required depth in context of movie plot. Only at one point where they were specifically searching for a provision of law the writer does not seem to have subject matter knowledge. How court systems work, what kind of arguments and language is spoken in court of law; where judge should overrule or sustain the objections etc. Anyways we should not be expecting Pakistani movies to be comparable with international movies,where internationally they hire subject matter specialists to aid the writing of scripts and directorial details etc.

Fahad is an excellent actor but Mehwish needs to work on her acting a lot, like a hell lot. And what was Om Puri doing in the movie ??? His work, his dialogues should have been more strong to give an impact to his celebrated appearance especially given the fact that some of the movie posters were Only showing Om Puri. His final punch was too superficial, clichéd and short.If I am director of the movie I would spend hell lot of time and effort to give that scene proper depth, emotional appeal, technical correctness, comprehensive precision and summing up to make the audience awe about the whole movie.

On overall basis, I would recommend watching this movie but I expect better work can be done with the given resources.

Completely Masala Movie

[shahbaz101-491244 · 8/10 · 13 October 2016]

1 Hour 58 minutes approx the story telling and punchy lines made me amused ,the intro of all characters is executed very well,the story is very relate-able and consequences occurs are very much near to common man lives. Shan Mirza's dream is to be an actor (Fahad Mustafa)the story amaze you when his struggle goes beyond the limits and Meenu Screwwala stand by him (Mehwish Hayat).Muddasir Sultan (Aly Khan)plays the antagonist in the movie along with Mehbbob Bhai (Saleem Miraj).Rafaqat Mirza (Om Puri)plays the role of the father of the protagonist shan mirza who is not so happy with the profession of his son.The story revolves around these characters the performances are at its best,light romance,fancy costumes and good dialogues movie is full of surprises. Completely Masala Movie.

excellent movie!

[khurramarif · 8/10 · 20 October 2016]

The whole movies was great to watch. The acting of mehvish Hayyat is awesome. The lines are excellent. The superb performance by Fahad Mustafa is treat to watch. Nice to see Om puri, he has done a great job by pulling off the role. A great entertainer. Some special appearance of celebrities made the movie look even better. Must watch a complete Entertainment. Best comedy, great laughter, altogether the film is a must watch. The location showed the old city of lights Karachi, some excellent, popular places are sot beautifully. The time spend at theater watching Actor is Law is worth spending. Highly recommended to watch and enjoy the comedy especially mehvish Hayyatt Performanc is worth mentioning.

Exceptional and Unique

[yaseen-16789 · 10/10 · 19 September 2016]

Genius story and extraordinary acting by Fahad Mustafa.

I feel like whoever doesn't watch it will miss out.

The movie is based in Karachi, Pakistan and is true to the culture of the city. It's genuine and heart-warming.

I'd recommend it it to non-Pakistanis too if you're going for something unique and entertaining.

The songs are on point too with Rahat FAK and Atif Aslam.

The standout part of the film has to be the plot. The story is unparalleled. The wannabe actor embarks on a career as a lawyer using his acting skills to be successful. The film takes a sharp turn when the hero's credentials are questioned, although he fought for the masses against the powerful. The hero's acting is flawless and he is supported well by the female lead and the others. There's a lot of comedy that complements the story. The movie appeals to your emotions too and delivers a message. The songs make you wanna dance.

It leaves you with good vibes.

Really enjoyed the whole thing!

[Yomanew · 10/10 · 28 May 2017]

Well, title summarizes what I have to say in this review, really.

But, if you want details...

I would say, I did not really find any moment that was particularly boring or something like that...

This is the reason I'm giving it a perfect 10 score/rating. Because, when I think of Pakistani movies, I think of immature movies! :P Even though I am a Pakistani, i still think we need to do a better job...

If they wanted to, they could improve even THIS movie, somehow, I'm sure of it. But, I couldn't find any such improvement-needing point.

In short, again, I really enjoyed the movie and totally recommend YOU to watch it, too!

Not a master piece but A must watch Pakistani film!!

[cy_bag · 7/10 · 13 September 2016]

Doing something truly remarkable gets you noticed, doing it again turns you into a wizard. Nabeel Qureshi may have entered the film industry with a magic wand in his hand but he ran out of tricks with Actor in Law.

Before I sneak further down his hat, one thing must be clarified: anyone with slight craving for entertainment will have a ball watching Actor in Law. But those looking for the same stroke of genius that Na Maloom Afraad had may have to contain a few yawns.

Shaan Mirza (Fahad Mustafa) is a struggling actor, one who survives on Devdas and oxygen, yet the burden of not living up to his father's dreams keeps on suffocating the artist within him. His father, Advocate Rafaqat Mirza (Om Puri) has never won a case in his life but has also never lied and as a result, holds honesty closer to him than his professional incompetency. Shaan visits a number of casting directors , breaks tube lights on his body at 'Bhai's' birthday celebrations, and even gets a small part in a big project but nothing manages to completely satisfy the actor within — until the day he walks into the city court to get his father's belongings.

Thus begins a thoroughly entertaining struggle of an actor and the audiences' journey of witnessing a mishmash of moments they've watched in several recent Indian movies. Those moments end up making the climax seem like just another turning point in the story and robbing the viewers' of genuine shockers. There isn't a single part of the narrative that you don't see coming, which is perhaps the fatal flaw of the film at large.

In aping the new trend of Bollywood courtroom dramas, Qureshi has weakened his own idea of keeping the story lines original. One must keep in mind that a film like OMG Oh My God! stood out because of its subject matter and not for the treatment. And regardless of a good intent, you end up creating a recipe for disaster when you apply the same formula on something less significant. The multiplex audience is getting smarter with every film and more aware of where something is borrowed from. The problem is clearly not with borrowing, it lies with replicating the act without adding on to it. NMA had pioneered this balance.

However with courtroom scenes come a number of monologues and it is Qureshi and Fizza Ali Meerza's quick-witted and socially aware humour that lightens things up. No one knows Karachi as well as this duo does and that is reflected not only in the dialogues, but also in the visual detailing of the city.

The performances, on the other hand, do live up to the expectations. There's no better sight than watching Mustafa make a mockery of the justice system in the presence of a crowd that cheers and hoots at every line. He has a dynamic emotional range as an actor and with his live TV show, he has only gotten better at becoming the one-man- army that the real Shaan should be worried about. Puri has played similar avatars in many such films and he pulls off another with masterful ease, this time without a word of Sanskrit. Hayat must be given marks for her on-point imitation of the Parsi stereotype but unfortunately, there wasn't much to her character. Saleem Mairaj and Nayyar Ejaz are the kings of cameos and like always, their short presence on screen is a tale in itself.

Despite being an all-out entertainer, the film doesn't work on as many layers as NMA and does not have the same shock value. Perhaps it was the hunger of establishing Qureshi's name that made NMA what it is for new-age Pakistani cinema.

In Netflix's Marco Polo, Kublai Khan repeatedly tells his allies and enemies that it's easier to sit on the throne then to sit and rule. This holds true for Qureshi, whose love for entertainment is undying but his thirst for change has been quenched too soon.

Verdict: Actor in Law is what you expect from an Eid film, but not from the director of Na Maloom Afraad

Highlighting social issues is the main Objective

[asimiqbalhussaini-112-593779 · 10/10 · 13 September 2016]

I never wrote a review before for any movie but after watching this, I have to write one.

May be I watched the best script written in Pakistan ever.

Everyone must be familiar with main concept of the movie through the trailer but this movie is not only about comedy and laughs but also about some serious social issues which has been presented brilliantly by the AIL team. Even you will see some political characters, including a telephonic speech by political leader. Everyone did superb Job. Mehwish Hayat played a brilliant roll in this movie. I guess in next few days it will be hard to grab tickets for this movie. A must must watch movie - 10/10 from my side.

P.S: Even my words cannot define the movie in a proper way

Movie was good but I was expecting more

[subhan-ihsan · 7/10 · 13 September 2016]

Most of the people know Nabeel Qureshi from his brilliant debut film "Na Maloom Afraad". I'm also one of them when I heard that he is making another film. I was super excited for the movie but I'm disappointed. I was expecting much more then he delivered. The story of first was good acting was super by Fahad Mustafa, which I must say his acting is improving and in this film he was pretty good. The story was going fine but right from the start of the second half almost everything was predictable. If you've watched just a few movies(not much) you can easily predict what is gonna come next. Although Nabeel built a good story in the first half but he just couldn't get up to mark in second half.To be very honest Nayyar Ijaz and Salim Mairij were totally wasted. Both have the ability to put a very fine show on screen but the roles were not up to their potential. If you talk about Mehwish Hayat, well I never liked her style of acting, She was not right choice for this kind of role. Omi Puri tried to do something but the role was too simple. Nabeel and his team should think about it. I mean you do not need to hire an actor from across the country for that simple role. Well, I'm not saying that the movie is bad and don't watch it. It is a very entertaining movie but still I feel improvement was needed. Positives from the movie: Fahad Mustafa's acting, the good story line of the first half.

A well made movie

[nabeelsiddiqi · 9/10 · 15 September 2016]

Talk about the Pakistani Movies, Waar initiated the message that Pakistan can make the much better movies. By leading message forward Pakistan developed the several good movies and they achieved the healthy box office report. By seeing this result, it seems our entire Drama industry is moving towards to Movie industry, that's unfortunate. That is why you can feel drama touch in Pakistan Movie Industry. Only few movies are being made that we can say its purely a movie that deserve to watch at big screen and YES! Actor in Law is among of them.

Actor in law is moving towards a person named Shan Mirza that wanted to be a actor but some circumstances he couldn't be a actor but a lawyer. That is played very well by Fahad Mustafa. So Shan Mirza utilized his acting skills in court, in very amazing way that will make you enjoy the movie. Talk about other lead actors, I wasn't expecting good from Mehwish Hayat but she also did her job and played a lady that wants to fight with the basic issues facing by people of the country. Talk about Om Puri, I don't need to say anything about his as he had small but very important roll and he done it very well.

Overall it was a very good comedy movie with some emotional scene in the end, you can enjoy with the pop corn. So I suggest go and watch this one.

But this was not just the comedy movie, there were some serious messages in the movie that I request you all to consider it.

Great performances overall

[nsrabdulaziz · 6/10 · 20 May 2017]

The performances were good throughout the movie, especially by Fahad Mustafa and Om Puri. While Mehwish Hayat was given a lead role, even though her performance was the worst! At times, things looked a bit unrealistic, particularly when it comes to the courtroom scenes, but overall a good movie from a not-so-mature industry.

Excellent movie

[azkhan-53308 · 10/10 · 3 November 2018]

Just watch it yesterday and was amused to see how perfectly they have depicted the culture and problems in the social norms. If you haven't watched it you still have a chance to feel it. Thumbs up to the whole team.

The Many Problems In Our Society Depicted Through Comedy

[azeem07 · 7/10 · 17 September 2016]

This movie was not made only to make us laugh but to understand the problems in our society. Social problems such as load-shedding, blind trust on media and many more. The movie also shows that if our judicial system takes right action against these social problems, we can solve the issues. The best thing about the movie is that problems in our society is depicted through comedy. Fantastic work by Fahad Mustafa. Excellent story, dialogues, humor and cinematography. Only the negative point about this movie is the ending of the movie could be much better. Overall it is really the best movie Pakistan made and we are proud of it.

A nice weekend watch

[rehmankhilji · 5/10 · 23 May 2017]

Pakistan film industry was never up to the task, even after the so called revival movies were highly overrated and unnecessary appreciated. Then here comes Actor in Law. Very well made movie, good sets, good plot, good story and fairly good acting. Fahad Mustafa was too good, dance, acting, and drama this actor has got it all and thank fully not being cheap. Mehwish Hayat she is looking stunning in her role. Om puri (late) serves as cherry on the top. He was a class without a doubt. A good movie and a nice watch for the weekend.

Emotional, Good Aesthetics and writing that keeps you hooked

[ahmedomer-98557 · 8/10 · 15 January 2019]

Mannn. What a movie. 8/10. Visuals are perfect, Acting is perfect (it didn't even feel like they were trying), the story is also verrrrrry goood. What I like the most was the protagonist fathers acting. DAMN. When he came on screen, he just gripped my attention. Amazing. The protagonist and his future wife acting were also natural and very good. The supporting actors also felt natural. The movie definitely got epic in the last 20 mins. I really liked the reasoning for the final battle and also the protagonist fate. The story is well explained. Coming to the negatives, I would say the 2 or 3 items songs in the movie should have not been included (because they just didn't feel right to be fit in). And some parts of the movie in the last quarter were a bit rushed (but they didn't impact the movie funny enough for me XD). Overall a very amazing movie.

Exceeded Expectations

[saadkhan-61833 · 8/10 · 4 September 2018]

The way he delivers his first dialogue in the court scene of the movie will make you go speechless. Fahad Mustafa is a superstar! I was not expecting much but it exceeded my expectations. Story is good, the movie is entertaining.

Nice message, poor execution.

[lamainvasionn · 6/10 · 4 May 2020]

This movie raises some good issues in Pakistani society such as misogyny, minority rights, vandalism of public property, child labour etc. with its main subject of critique being media, politics and law.

I even noticed gist of Hobbes political/moral philosophy as a philosophy student myself. Hobbes asserted that the role of government is to make private interests of people to become collective interests by forcing restrictions on people. If under a government, people's private interests are in conflict with other people, that government is not doing its job properly. One example of people exploiting their private interests in the movie is vandalism of public property for the sole purpose of personal gain.

I also liked the fact that the writer studied legislation on different issues to give validity to the arguments presented in the movie.

As good as the message is, the movie just does the job on a superficial level. It's apparent that the writer only wanted to focus on the message as evident by the fact that the characters suffer from being 2 dimensional and mediocre. Lets look at the main character Shan for instance, he started off with the sole motivation of becoming an actor, yet he ends up becoming an all good and innocent moral warrior in a 'Munna Bhai' and 'PK' fashion. As unoriginal as this concept is, my main concern is that Shan's character showed no moral motivation in the entire movie. To be fair to one of the antecedents to this movie which would be PK, that had an alien with an objective/3rd party view of the human society so his motivations and actions made sense as he came to his conclusions through observation. Over here in this movie however, Shan's motivation of 'doing what's right' is entirely arbitrary. There was nothing sufficient in his character that would make him want to gain the public interest. In short, his character is lazily written.

Let's move on to the villain Mahboob. He was Shan's friend but ends up snitching on him. Being another 2 dimensional character, he shows no motivations for his actions. At the beginning he helped Shan find an acting role, why did he do that? because he was his friend, nothing more. Why did he snitch at the end? because Shan refused to give him any money. These are easy, dull and non-creative justifications for Mahmood's actions making him a poorly written antagonist.

Shan's father is just your typical Pakistani dad calling Shan a failure 24/7, conveniently leaves the country upon Shan's rise to fame. I'm still confused on the reveal that his dad never won a case in his life, in terms of what purpose it serves.

Meenu is also an unoriginal 2 dimensional character as i have seen a character like her in many other films. She got no role other then being a love interest of Shan, and to raise awareness on "sexual harassment", which to be fair, is a good role but the movie went nowhere with it as she was forced to retract her case. As soon as she found a witness, the movie went like 'that's enough of this topic, let's rush to the next!'

Now here what I liked about her character was the fact that she was a Zoroastrian. The movie endorsed a relationship between a muslim and a Parsi. This promotes minority tolerance. Though it would have been more progressive and overall better imo, to show a relationship between a Parsi man and muslim women but that would've gotten backlash since it's against the islamic scripture.

Nonetheless, the biggest flaw of the movie is the fact that Shan is conveniently able to barge in a court-room without having to identify himself, which foreshadows the main conflict and climax. in other words, the climax of the plot has a basis in implausible and conveniently written event.

Overall, a score of 6 is just me being generous because i like the issues it raises. Even though the movie's flaws outweigh its strengths.

Sets the bar

[aimenoon · 8/10 · 25 September 2019]

A totally out of the blue with a powerful duo . sure to leave you laughing and aware of the problems day to day Pakistanis feel. Would love more films like this

A must watch movie.

[asifnaagra · 10/10 · 14 September 2016]

Watched Actor in Law today. Without any doubts I will give 10/10 to this movie. Direction, production values, acting, music , dance and every thing was excellent. I was amazed with dance moves of Nabeel Qureshi. He is such a talented man. Fahad Mustafa has done great acting. The story line is so unique and real that you can easily relate many things from this movie to your life. Many positive messages has been delivered. I have loved the music and dance as well. I have loved the love between Fahad and great Om Puri as father and son. Hats off to each and every body attached with Actor In Law. Well done guys. Keep making us proud of Pakistani film industry.

Great movie to watch

[zee_redscorpio · 9/10 · 17 September 2016]

Divide the movie into two parts......... First will make you burst into laughter and second one is full of emotions and sentiments.................... A perfect combination of both will not even let you think of any boredom for a single second................. Acting performances are excellent specially by lead characters who have put life into the story.. .........the story itself plus the dialogues, humour, cinematography, all was worth praising... songs also fit in perfectly.. the movie will come to end in 2 hrs................................ .......................... happy to watch such movies coming.. will definitely benefit the industry..

Mocking of Pakistani culture

[thinkingyasir · 1/10 · 26 June 2017]

Despite some good themes and criticism of corruption , there are some things which targeted the basic principal on which Pakistan is based. The Islamic identity of Muslims is directly challenged and the movie tried to prove that indeed movies are nothing but a mouthpiece of devil. The acting of Mehwish Hayat was dull and biased. The revealing clothes she wore and scene with mini shorts clearly show the intention of movie producers to modify and deteriorate the Islamic character of Pakistani society. On one side , she seems objecting the staring of young men when she wore revealing clothes and on the other hand promoting hugging and french-kissing (last scene) with a man with non-marital relationship. The movie deserves 0/10 but the least I could give. May God save Pakistan from such filth which separate it from India.

An applaudable masterpiece

[theintellectual_ca · 9/10 · 17 September 2016]

I am sharing my reviews for any movie for the first time. Amidst the laughter filled scenes, the film Actor in law has succeeded in capturing the attention of the audience towards many social issues. If I say that this is the first movie coming from Pakistan's cinema touching many social issues simultaneously. What makes this movie stand out, is the mere fact that despite covering social issues, the Actor in Law team has kept the tone of the movie light enough to appeal to the masses. This movie has a genre of its own. The music was spot on and the movie doesn't have any "item number" which is surely an applaudable step taken by the team! Though there are some glitches in the movie but I have chosen to ignore them. From Namaloom Afrad, Nabeel Qureshi and Filmwala productions have come a long way and their efforts shine through every scene of the movie. Fahad Mustafa has proved his acting skills and his dance numbers weren't bad either. Mehwish Hayat also proved to be a good choice for her role. All in all, a must watch family movie which will make your eyes water with emotions and stomach cringe with laughter! well done team, we look forward to some more masterpieces from you.

Pakistani Movie of the Year

[maxon305 · 8/10 · 1 October 2016]

One of the finest piece of work Pakistani Industry has ever produced, It highlights the several public issues faced by Pakistani People, Fahad Mustufa has done great acting even in comparison of Hamayun Saeed I would go for Fahad, Mehwish Hayat, The Parsi Character seems to be very authentic. Nabeel Qureshi done proved that he is one of the finest Director Pakistan has got, the songs are good and dance was light, just lacking one thing Action, but being a Middle class man that doesn't fits in. Comedy timing and dialogues were very funny its an complete Entertainment package for Family Audience, the also portrayed major languages and casts in movie like, Sindhi, Balochi, Pashtun, Urdu, Minorities I guess it was the first time when a Parsi character plays a lead role in Pakistani movie which is a good gesture, Keep up the good work.

Exceeded beyond my expectations! Must Watch!

[shiz_umi · 10/10 · 10 October 2016]

Watched it in Cinema here in Mississauga, Canada. The trailer didn't draw much of my interest in the movie (I wish they'd made a better trailer), but I went to watch anyway since I love both actors (Fahad and Mehwish) and of course it was a Pakistani movie! I was hooked on this from the beginning. Loved the chemistry between Fahad and Mehwish. The movie touched on very important aspects in Pakistan right now (such as load shedding, choosing the profession you love to do and you're good at, women and how they should be respected no matter what clothing they wear). It was exceptional the way the writer delivered all those things on the screen. Fahad does an exceptional job as a Lawyer, I wish he plays a real role as a lawyer. The songs in the movie were all amazing, specially the "Actor In Law" song and its lyrics and the way Fahad danced in it, I was just in awe. The song that Atif Aslam sang, and how Fahad and Mehwish danced to it, it was just too cute and they did an awesome job!

Revival of Lollywood

[Resistance2010 · 10/10 · 10 September 2016]

watched its Dubai Premier last Friday with little to none expectations but to my surprise its a delightful little gem from Pakistan i have already recommended some of my Indian friends to give it a try and feel proud as pakistani that we are now on a good track for better movies with something to learn from it addresses the worst issues in our country in a so good manner it shows how excellent writer Fiza Ali Meerza is,

as far as actor goes Om Puri is great as always Fahad Mustafa done a great job and Mehwish Hayat looks stunning all n all its a Fun Filled movie with a soul and heart.

A MUST WATCH OF EID

Great feel good comedy

[fbutt-98821 · 8/10 · 21 September 2016]

Actor in Law is really funny, not silly slapstick funny, but clever, sharp and witty funny. I haven't laughed as much since 'Jawani phir nahin ani'. If you enjoyed that film you will also love this film.

Some of the jokes may seem a bit specific to Pakistan and the Pakistan media scene but anyone who is glued to the numerous news channels with their sound bites and political commentary, will love how the movie presents a tongue and cheek send up of that whole media circus. There is a bit of melodrama but this is inevitable to bring the story to completion and for me it was kept to an essential minimum. Great feel good comedy. Definitely worth a viewing.