Arth the Destination
- Aymen Saqib
- Dec 24, 2017
- 2 min read
Rating 5/10
Directed by Shaan Shahid
Starring
Shaan Shahid as Ali
Uzma Hassan as Uzma
Humaima Malik as Humaima
Arth –The Destination orbits around a writer Uzma and how her life changes when her film-maker husband falls in love with the celebrity Humaima. She goes on to befriend a singer, Ali.
Anyone who has seen the 1982 classic by Mahesh Bhatt would find it criminal to associate this indigenous version to it. Though Arth’s concept is perhaps more germane in todays world than it was back in ’82, Shan mercilessly throws the whole story away making it more about himself than the two women’s intersecting courses and destinations.
Uzma’s performance was perhaps the best in the film. She manages to rise above the dreadfully direction and make the viewers care about her whereas Humaima hardly has any substantial material to work with. Her character came off as superficial and the only thing she did was look good. Mirza was there as a mere excuse to catalyze the movie.
Despite all his faults, Shaan got the music right, giving us more than a few memorable songs. Sahir Ali Bagga has never been in better form than in Arth. However, there are fundamentals that help create the world the story is set in. Arth neglects all of them, failing to establish an easy-to-understand visual language.
Adding to the disorientation of the film is the fact that the editing looks as if the editor threw the reel into the air and cut it up with scissors as it fell. The frames don’t stay still. Just when you think you see what’s happening, the scene is cut to the next shot. Most of the film uses close-ups to an uncomfortable degree, particularly the first half, making it hard to comprehend the space the action is happening in. It’s almost like the rough cut of the film has been released, with no two characters ever really sharing the screen together.
Arth undoubtedly is better than Rangreza however it was expected to be even better. The sloppy approach to editing the film, along with the production and lazy aesthetics damage Arth’s potential. Truth be told, the number of panning shots mixed with the repetition of many scenes destroy the sensory experience quite completely.
The only time Shaan isn’t in a hurry to cut to the next scene is in a monologue by Humaima in the second half, and it shows that it’s not the fault of the actors that they couldn’t shine, but the director himself. By cutting back and forth repeatedly, he hindered the audience from engaging with the narrative, or rather, creating a narrative worth engaging with.
If you liked Arth – The Destination, you should check out the 1982 Bollywood classic Arth so you know where the magic really prevailed.
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