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Verna

Aymen Saqib
Nov 30, 2017
3 min read

Rating 2

Directed by Shoaib Mansoor

Starring

Mahira Khan as Sarah

Haroon Shahid as Aami

Zarrar Khan as Sultan

After Shoaib Mansoor’s blockbusters like “Khuda Kay Liye” and “Bol”, imagine a weakly scripted, poorly shot, shoddily directed, ineptly acted piece and its actual manifestation would be “Verna” - surprisingly by the same director. What could have been a flag bearer of women’s rights in a country where few seem to exist ends up doing maybe the exact opposite of what it intended –presenting rape in the most insensitive way possible. It merely touches the issue and then gets lost in deceits, frame-ups and vigilante justice.

Sarah is kidnaped and raped for three days after she is returned to her helpless family. Back home, no man, not her father nor her husband stands up for her. This is when she turns into Count of Monte Cristo Mode and drives the movie, providing the whole moral compass of the film herself along with a few female protagonists, stacking all the men under one category: bad.

Verna is a social drama turned into a revenge thriller, yet fails to deliver in either genre. The script tries to depict several social issues and thus isn’t able to convey any of them completely. The screenplay is unreasonably complicated, leaving the audience baffled. If any sensible person had read the script prior to the movie’s shoot, they would have advised ShoMan to take a chill pill, breathe in fresh air and start over.

Mahira Khan is without a doubt one of the best female protagonists in South Asia but Sarah’s ordeals aren’t translated well on screen. Some of her decisions and actions are averse to the otherwise grave theme of the movie. Sarah’s relationship with her polio bound husband Aami is also a complete miss. Even as the couple goes through hell, the audience isn’t able to connect with them because the supposed “love” between the two doesn’t come alive onscreen.

Also, maybe by depicting Aami as polio stricken, ShoMan wanted to create a theme about the gravity of polio. But Aami’s character is so poorly etched-out that it almost seems that his disability was established solely to make Sara seem even more powerful. There’s just no chemistry between these two.

The disturbing effect that Verna set out to create is depicted in only one of its characters’ performances, and that is by the childishly brutal feudal villain Sultan. A vain, self-absorbed man who loathes the citizenry, especially women, he is a misogynist in the truest sense of the word.

The script fails to create any effect within the audience and falls flat. “You men only love one area in a women’s body and when you have to curse a woman, you say words like teri Maa Ki, teri behan ki” Yes! This was an actual dialogue in this movie. Where did the infinitely quotable and meaningful “Agar khila nahin saktay tou paida kyun kartay hou” sort of writing go?

Overall, Verna lacks depth and clarity. If only ShoMan had made up his mind, chosen one theme and went with it. If only.

If you liked Verna, trust me this isn’t anything near Shoaib Mansoor’s best work! Check out Pakistan’s first two international films “Khuda kay liye” and “Bol” by the same director.