Why would a police station file a rape case against the son of an influential politician, why would a girl belonging to a red light area file for rape, and why would she hope to receive justice? Damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. The victims of Taxali Gate have nowhere to go, yet, they found a way! And that’s the story!
Justice Is Sweet, But Revenge Is Sweeter. However, what if you have a chance to get both? Oh well, Taxali Gate might be a dream come true but as a cinematic offering, it had lots to say about consent. Perhaps one would think consent is over-rated, over used, not the stuff that turns heads anymore, so much has been written about it. But consent is still something women seek, and society at large, dismisses as a non issue.
Which is why, audiences need to be schooled on the A,B,C’s of a term that many find unnecessary.
Let’s dive into Taxali Gate as we deconstruct the story, performances, and direction to navigate through the very high walls of Heera Mandi, the better known face of Taxali.
The Narrative
Set against the vibrant-forlorn feels of Heera Mandi, the film teases viewers into a world that arouses a multitude of emotions, from curiosity, to denial, the inhabitants are judged on their moral life choices even though, they perhaps, had no option to choose. The film moves at a quick pace interjected with conversation breaks and filmy feels – Zainab played by Mehar Bano performing a solo dance atop her boyfriend’s house, Muskan, reflecting on life as she hangs out the laundry, Shafiq, chiming in with his two bits of depraved life philosophy and Meeda, poor, harmless Meeda, demanding justice from a system that will hand him anything but.
Performances
While the performances offered a blitz of gripping, to slightly less gripping, Mehar Bano stood out as the young, whimsical, defiant Zainab who was beaten yet not quite beaten. Her onscreen presence was definitely present, all of it, from first glance when she meandered her way through the tight alleys of Taxali Gate to the liberating and rhythmic swirling and twirling atop the roof, to the shivering young girl who had just been through a harrowing nightmare, to the then defiant comeback that was perhaps, a tad too fast, but little choice did the 95 minute run time of the film leave her but to get over her ordeal fast and act out her revenge plan, even faster!
Umer Aalam as the boyfriend of Zainab had us fooled at first sight till he changed colors and fast. Despite the brief screen time, he evoked a sense of revulsion and anger – he was after all the representation of spoilt young brat with parenting gone horribly wrong. Not a difficult feat to pull off agreed (we see so many of the real life souls amidst us unfortunately), but Umer still did it quite convincingly and nailed the role.
Yasir Hussain as Shafiq had the role but needed dialogues that packed a better punch than the sordid, misogynistic air he carried as a heavy, slightly staged burden. Shafiq was soft on Muskaan, yet harsh on her ancestry, the character itself could have been sketched better as audiences expected a more wholesome, humane representation of manhood, which Shafiq could have pulled off (had he got the dialogues) as he helped fight Zainab’s battle. Hence, though Yasir was successful in making us feel Shafiq’s presence onscreen, one couldn’t help but feel the character fell short of the actor. There was so much wasted potential there, Shafiq demanded better scripting from the role and felt slightly empty, vacuous, as if he had been placed on the set for pure effect – Yasir is an actor that can pull off a solo performance but unfortunately, the role did not do him justice.
Ayesha Omar, Alyy Khan and Nayyar Ejaz brought something to the table at one point or another in the narrative. However, performances seemed a tad staged, especially the court scene where Muskan’s solo lecture on marzi (consent) could have been supported better through Zainab’s lawyer – Iffat Omar. Pakistani dramas and films tend to gravitate towards dramatic court scenes where the main character lets off a tirade of quotable quotes which, though intensely dramatic and message-driven, seem to take away from the legal nature of the scene.
The runtime of the film – 95 minutes short, seemed to take away from the story as the narrative was more about placing events in the right sequence rather than fleshing out the characters
The Court Case Deconstruct
How to win a court case without resorting to your lawyer for help is a case in point for many narratives and we need to understand that if a crime thriller/social message needs to school audiences, a logically fought court case based on legal grounds and not rhetoric might help create more awareness.
Victim Blaming Is A Thing
Nevertheless, Muskaan schooling Chaudhry’s lawyer on consent can be viewed as a worthy alternative, especially when she draws parallels to a woman’s consent, how she might have consented to entering a house, but not the way she was treated after – the argument could draw parallels to Zahir Jaffer’s case, where Noor Makhdoom was victim blamed for visiting his house alone, and even an F-9 Park rape victim who was told by her rapist not to venture out at night after 8pm. One needs to not look far as the Highway incident survivor was also victim blamed and questioned what she was doing out on the highway late night.
On another note, the movie scores a win by shedding light on young girls such as Zainab, an inhabitant of a red light area (and not one engaged in the profession of prostitution) was viewed as a dismissive victim whose rape case stands for little or no value in a police station or court of law pointed an obvious finger at the state of our judicial and executive systems, a no win situation for girls such as her who have no recourse to seek justice because the injustice done to them is not even viewed as a transgression of the law of the land – children of a lesser God perhaps?
Lost In Translation
However, although the film pushed the right narratives, the message probably lost itself in the multiple messages the creators aimed to push through – the plight of those who live abandoned lives in places such as Heera Mandi, the consent of a woman, the consent of a woman when she is in a willing relationship with her partner, the corruption within the police system that failed to conduct a medical examination within 48 hours of the crime having occurred, the pressure of influential culprits and the damning sentencing of those who attempt to file an FIR (First Investigation Report) in a police station where they are judged even before they have had a chance to record their case – guilty until proven innocent.
How can all these narratives find space in one 95 minute watch – one has to be a wizard storyteller, or … a magician!
Directorial Wins
Nevertheless, Taxali Gate did deliver some innovate cinematography, especially Zainab moving to the beat on the roof top, lost in music was an artistic vision in itself, the inner city and visuals were suitably depicted and the action scene, especially where both rapists were battered by our 4 protagonists was well-executed and kept things interesting.
The story itself served a twist we guessed well in advance but surprisingly, that did not take away from the visual experience. We wanted Zainab to win, we wanted Meeda to avenge himself, but we also wanted a coherent storyline where loopholes in the legal system or astute lawyers made it possible for them to exact revenge. Again, small details in the narrative, eg, Muskan telling her cronies to drop off the phones on a bus headed for Multan to derail the police was capped off well, but then, one wondered, would the investigators not have had access to the phone locations earlier on which would trace them to Meeda’s home?
The soundtrack from Eva B Mera Haq Kidhar Hai added a vibe of its own as Eva does always. The song paced the story telling with a beat one of a kind, matching Zainab’s spirited defiance.
One Narrative, Multiple Messages
If we were not to pick the nitty gritty from the film, one can say Taxali Gate was a watch for checking all the right boxes vis-a-vis critical social messaging in a social landscape where schooling a population on consent is a mammoth job.
Too many cooks spoil the broth, and in this case, too many messages dilute the one message we aim to send out. Consent is after all, an oft misunderstood term. And perhaps breaking it up in bite-sized morsels might have made it easier to digest. Too many flavours, too big a bite and you’ve lost the essence of the dish you cooked – did Taxali suffer from the same Fate?
The film must be applauded for venturing into the world of consent and also, exploring it in all its nuanced layers. However, one does leave the cinema with a feeling of too much too soon, or too much in one plate.
Also, the story might have suffered from a relatability factor as many young girls who make it inside the cinema (remember our ticket prices keep out the masses), might not see themselves in Zainab and the compromised conditions she hails from. But at the same time, ironically, Taxali Gate shines the spotlight on forgotten souls such as Zainab who live in the marginalized communities of our society, begging to be noticed, yet losing the battle everyday.
When one walks out of the cinema, there is a nagging feeling inside the viewer. What did the creators want me to really see? In the sea of messages emerges a single truth – it doesn’t matter who was raped. A rape is a rape, whether it was done to a prostitute, a woman who travelled alone, was in a relationship, married, or single. Questioning her moral grounds diminishes the gravity of the crime committed and taints our moral fabric in very dark colours.
And that premise alone is all Taxila Gate needed to school Pakistani audiences on.
Verdict?
Watch in cinemas to know that the message the movie puts out there – consent of a woman, and her status as the one wronged, and not the wrong doer, is a worthy one, albeit, lost in too many premises. Also pay heed that Taxali Gate seems to have its heart in the right place, it is perhaps the first of many such narratives, keeping the hope alive that one day, we will get it all right!
Taxali gate is written & directed by Abu Aleeha, Executive Producer Shabbir Shah, Producer Waqas Rizvi and Ayesha Omar. Official Media Partner Hum Network. The cast includes Ayesha Omar, Yasir Hussain, Umer Aalam, Mehar Bano, Iffat Omar, Nayyar Ejaz, Babar Ali, Alyy Khan. Iftikhar Thakur, Shehryar Cheema, Khalid Anum, Shehzad Khan and others.
