Why the title “Cake”?
To be honest, one thing which made me a little reluctant about watching the film was its title. It seemed counterintuitive to choose such a title to represent such a powerful cast. I mean, let’s be serious, when there are actors like Sanam Saeed, Aamina Sheikh, and eye-candy Adnan Malik and Mikaal Zulifiqar all in one frame, who wouldn’t want to watch it?
And after watching Cake on the second day of its release in Dubai, I figured out the reason behind that title … it has all the ingredients it takes to bake a cake.
Cake represents the Jamali family. The bitterness of salt is what you see in the eyes of Zareen when her siblings arrive from abroad. The sweetness of sugar you see in being with each other till dawn after a massive fight. The highs and lows of their lives are like the temperature required to bake a cake, how it need to rise first, and then cool down with time …
The best part about Cake is the storyline, penned beautifully by debut Writer-Director: Asim Abbasi, of an upper-class Sindhi zameendar family, comes to Karachi, the city of lights, from a small Sindhi village, for the betterment of his children’s future.
I don’t remember ever watching a Pakistani film based entirely on the lives of the elite sector of our country, a pleasant change, and a chance to come in touch with some genuine and very relatable problems they go through in their lives.
Growing up with money doesn’t mean their life is perfect, as it may seem. They, too, are human beings with serious problems; heartaches, issues, flaws and regrets which they live with every day.
Expectations that parents have of their children but don’t openly claim.
The struggles and dilemmas that come with children beginning to prioritise their own lives over the lives of, and relationships with, their parents.
Moving abroad and losing touch with one’s roots, one’s upbringing, one’s origins; letting one’s homeland turn merely into a third-world country that has been left behind in the name of progress.
The story of Cake unveils the many expressions of problems that can face the individual lives of members of just one family alone. As an audience, you find yourself connecting and relating personally with several circumstances that seem so familiar, that you cannot stop yourself getting teary-eyed as the movie goes deep in touching your core.
Another reason Cake appealed so personally to me was the originality in even the simplest of things, such as the ambience and décor of the house, the wardrobe of the cast, the entire set-up: one can easily picture oneself in the scenarios presented. Case in point: you won’t find the characters dressed up and fully made-up in an early-morning scene.
A scene to look out for, and also my favourite in the movie, is that of the fight between Zareen and Zara; in which they are snatching and tugging at each other’s hair, and beating each other up. It was so real that, watching it, you can actually feel their anger. Kudos to Director Asim Abbasi for the phenomenal job.
Watch Cake with your family, old and young, even the teenagers, so that they are made aware of family values, and try to avoid making the same mistakes the Jamalis make. They should know the importance of family, that no matter how far away you are, and whatever the differences, family is always family, the only people that truly matter, the ones who will stand by you.
A disclaimer that the movie does contain some strong language on occasion, which might be inappropriate for younger children, but, honestly, none of it is stuff they don’t hear in the normal household.
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