''Bol'' (lit. ''Speak'' or ''word(s)'') is a

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Pakistani

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written, directed and produced by

Shoaib Mansoor Shoaib Mansoor (Full name, Shoaib Mansoor), ( ur, ; born 4 February 1951 Karachi) is a Pakistani television and film director, writer, producer, lyricist and musician of Muhajir origin. Active in the television industry since 1980, he first f ...

. The film stars

Humaima Malik Humaima Malick (born 18 November 1987) is a Pakistani actress who works in Pakistani films and serials. She is known for ''Ishq Junoon Deewangi'' as Pares Usmani and social-drama '' Bol'' in 2011. Personal life Malick was born in Quetta into ...

Atif Aslam Atif Aslam is a Pakistani playback singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He has recorded many songs in both Pakistan and India, and is known for his vocal belting technique. Aslam predominantly sings in Urdu, but has also sung in Hindi, ...

Mahira Khan Mahira Hafeez Khan (; born 21 December 1984) is a Pakistani actress. She started her career as a VJ in 2006. Khan is best known for portraying the role of Khirad Hussain in the romantic-drama ''Humsafar'' for which she received numerous acco ...

Iman Ali Iman Ali ( ur, ; born 19 December 1980) is a Pakistani actress, model, and singer who appears in Urdu films. Ali made her film debut with a leading role in the 2007 thriller film ''Khuda Kay Liye'', for which she won a Lux Style Award for B ...

, Shafqat Cheema,

Amr Kashmiri Amir Kashmiri (born 2 February 1991) is a Pakistani-born actor and Film Editor who appears in Pakistani films. He made his film debut in 2011 with Shoaib Mansoor's '' Bol'' for which he won a London Asian Film Festival award. Early life Am ...

Manzar Sehbai Manzar Sehbai (born 19 March 1950) is a Pakistani actor who appears in Lollywood films and serials. He has worked in different drama serials and made his film debut in 2011 with Shoaib Mansoor's '' Bol'' for which he won Lux Style Awards and SA ...

, and

Zaib Rehman Zaib Rehman is a Pakistani lawyer and actress. She started in television in her 20s and made her movie debut in the 2011 blockbuster '' Bol''. Early life During her time as student at Lahore College for Women University, she acted as Presiden ...

in the lead roles. The film marks the debut of singer

and

. It concerns a religious

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

family facing financial difficulties caused by too many children and changing times, with a major plot involving the father's desire to have a son and his rejection of his existing

intersex Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bina ...

child. ''Bol'' was a critical and commercial success, and became one of the

highest-grossing Pakistani films This list charts the most successful Pakistani films screened at cinemas in Pakistan and overseas. Pakistani films generate income from several revenue streams including box office sales (admissions), theatrical exhibitions, television broadc ...

of all time. This film was part of a maternal and child health project, PAIMAN (Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns), implemented by and The

Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs The Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) was founded over 30 years ago by Phyllis Tilson Piotrow as a part the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's department of Health, Behavior, and Society and is located in Baltim ...

(JHU.CCP) which entered in a partnership with Shoaib Mansoor's Shoman Productions in 2009. The objective of the project was to advocate for women's rights by bringing the focus of media and the elite of Pakistan to family planning and gender issues. The PAIMAN Project Communications Advisor and country representative of JHU.CCP, Fayyaz Ahmad Khan, served as the executive producer of the movie. The film was reviewed by the

Central Board of Film Censors The Central Board of Film Censors (abbreviated as CBFC) ( ur, ) is a film censorship board and rating system body under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting for the Government of Pakistan. Since the Eighteenth Amendment to the Consti ...

in Lahore on 8 November 2010 and received its approval the next day. ''Bol'' is set in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

and many students from National College of Arts' (NCA) filmmaking department assisted Shoaib Mansoor on it.

Plot

The film starts by showing the protagonist, Zainab (

Humaima Malick Humaima Malick (born 18 November 1987) is a Pakistani actress who works in Cinema of Pakistan, Pakistani films and serials. She is known for ''Ishq Junoon Deewangi'' as Pares Usmani and social-drama ''Bol (film), Bol'' in 2011. Personal life M ...

), about to be hanged. She tells her story to media right before this happens. She grew up with six sisters, a mother and a father. The father always wanted a son so that the son could help with the financial issues of the family; the father does not believe in women being gainfully employed. They have an

child ( khawajah sara in Urdu) named Syed Saifullah Khan or Saifi (

). The father (Hakim) does not like Saifi since he is intersex. Saifi is deeply loved by the rest of his family. Zainab is married to a guy who keeps harassing her for not giving birth. Hence, she comes back to her father's house. Zainab's mother keeps having deceased babies. Zainab arranges a

tubal ligation Tubal ligation (commonly known as having one's "tubes tied") is a surgical procedure for female sterilization in which the fallopian tubes are permanently blocked, clipped or removed. This prevents the fertilization of eggs by sperm and thus th ...

for her. When Hakim (

) finds out, he becomes very angry. One day, Zainab sees Saifi dressed in women's clothes and gets very disturbed. Hakim owns a small traditional pharmacy and is approached by a man who asks him to teach The

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...

to children, since Hakim is a very religious man who has bonds with the mosque. Hakim initially refuses because the man, Saqa (Ishaq), is running a brothel. Meanwhile, the mosque gives him some money to keep, since they believe him to be trustworthy. Mustafa (

), a neighbour, gets Saifi a job at a place where they paint trucks. There, Saifi is harassed because others discriminate against his identification. One day Saifi is raped. Another

, (played by

Almas Bobby Almas Bobby is a Pakistani transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphori ...

– who in real life is a transgender person), finds him and takes him home. Hakim overhears Saifi telling his mother and Zainab what happened. Later on, when everybody is asleep, Hakim suffocates Saifi to death with a plastic bag. He must bribe the police officer to keep it a secret with two lakhs. Hakim is forced to take money out of the masjid funds. The masjid asks for the funds, and Hakim does not have enough money. He is forced to go to Saqa's house to get it. Teaching children the

is not giving him enough money, so Saqa gives him another option: Hakim must marry and have a baby with Meena (

) who is one of the prostitutes and is Saqa's ( Shafqat Cheema) oldest daughter. Hakim keeps having girls, and Saqa tells him that it is the men who decides the sex of the baby. Meanwhile, Zainab gets Ayesha (

) and Mustafa married since Hakim found another man at the masjid and wanted to get Ayesha married to that man. Simultaneously, Hakim marries Meena. When Hakim finds out about Ayesha's marriage, he is furious but cannot do anything about it. Meena has her baby, and it is a girl meaning Saqa gets to keep it. Hakim begs Meena to give him the baby so that the child does not have to face a horrible future. Saqa overhears and kicks Hakim out. Later on, Meena comes to give Hakim's family the baby. When Hakim's wife asks who that women was, he takes the baby and tells her that he married her. She screams at him, and he beats her up. The mother tells the kids what happened, and Zainab insists they all leave the house and move somewhere else to start a new life. At night, Saqa comes to take Meena's daughter, since Meena was not supposed to give it to Hakim. Hakim tries to kill the daughter to keep her from a horrible future. He is killed by Zainab with a fatal knock on the head. They hide the baby. Zainab tells Saqa that Hakim killed the baby and threw her out somewhere; she tells him that she killed Hakim, which is why she is being given the death penalty. Back in the present, a reporter keeps trying to prove that she is innocent but is unable to. Zainab ends by asking that why is only killing a sin? Why is giving birth, without any family planning, not a sin? Then she is hanged. The President (Rashid Khawaja) sees the reporter's newscast that ends with that question and schedules a meeting with the topic as the same as the question. In the end, the rest of the daughters open up a restaurant called Zainab's Cafe, which becomes very successful. They also raise their new half-sister, Meena's daughter.

Cast

as Zainab *

as Dr. Mustafa *

as Sabina (Meena), a prostitute, Saqa's daughter and second wife of Hakim Sahib *

as Ayesha Mustafa * Shafqat Cheema as Ishaq "Saqa" Kanjar (Panderer) *

as Hakim Sahib *

as Suraiya *Jafiey as a jasim *

Naima Khan Naima Khan is a Pakistani actress. She is known for her roles in dramas ''Tum Mere Kya Ho'', '' Saya-e-Dewar Bhi Nahi'', ''Shehnai'', ''Yaqeen Ka Safar'' and '' Yeh Dil Mera''. Early life Naima was born in 1972 on October 26th in Lahore. She com ...

as Master's wife *

as Saifullah Khan/Saifi, intersex child of Hakim Sahib **Meher Sagar as a young Saifi *

Humaira Ali Humaira Ali (née Chaudhry) is a Pakistani actress. She is known for her roles in dramas '' Nail Polish'', '' Kankar'', '' Jab We Wed'' and '' Sammi''. Early life Humaira was born on April 5th in 1960 in Lahore, Pakistan. She completed her studi ...

as Marriage Bureau Lady *

Irfan Khoosat Irfan Khoosat ( Punjabi, ur, ) (born 9 June 1946) is a Pakistani actor, producer and a well-known comedian. He is famous for his comic role as ''Hawaldar Karamdad'' in the TV series Andhera Ujala (1984-1985) in which he portrayed a simpleton ...

as Mustafa's father *Rashid Khawaja as the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=s̤adr-i Pākiṣṭān), officially the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is the ceremonial head of state of Pakistan and the commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Armed Forces.Almas Bobby Almas Bobby is a Pakistani transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphori ...

as Tara

Release

''Bol'' was released on 24 June 2011 under the banner of

Geo Films ''Geo Films'' is a film production and distribution company owned by Geo Television Network based in Karachi, Pakistan. ''Geo Films'' distributes Hollywood, Lollywood Lollywood ( ur, , translit=lâli vuḍ) refers to Pakistan's film in ...

. Bol also released in India on 31 August 2011, making it third Pakistani film, after

Ramchand Pakistani ''Ramchand Pakistani'' ( ur, ) is a 2008 Urdu-language Pakistani drama film directed by Mehreen Jabbar and produced by Javed Jabbar. The film features Nandita Das, Rashid Farooqi, Syed Fazel Hussain, Maria Wasti and Noman Ijaz in lead role ...

and

Khuda Kay Liye ''Khuda Kay Liye'' (also released as ''In the Name of God'' in international markets) is a 2007 Pakistani drama film directed by Shoaib Mansoor, produced by Brigadier Syed Mujtaba Tirmizi from ISPR and stars Shaan Shahid, Fawad Khan and Iman Al ...

, to release in India. Apart from India, ''Bol'' was released in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on 31 August 2011.

Critical reception

''Bol'' received highly positive reviews from critics.

Taran Adarsh Taran Adarsh (born 13 June 1965) is an Indian film critic and trade analyst. He is best known for giving trade figures and box office updates on social media. Career Taran Adarsh started his journalism career at the age of 15 with ''Trade Gui ...

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides ...

gave 4/5 describing it as "A brilliant film embellished with bravura performances." Likewise,

Komal Nahta Komal Nahta (born 30 April 1964) is an Indian film trade analyst. Nahta is the publisher of "Film Information" and also a television show host. He is an anchor of the trade show ETC Bollywood Business on the Bollywood TV channels ETC and Zee Cinem ...

of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' gave the film 4/5 by going on to describe it as "topical and thought-provoking." Saibal Chatterjee of

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...

gave 3 on 5 stating that the "message that the film delivers is urgent, heartfelt and of considerable import." Galaxy Lollywood, in its review gave 4.4/5 stars to the film and stated it to be "meeting public expectations" after ''

''. It was awarded the best Hindi film award in IRDS Film awards 2011 by the Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS), a Lucknow-based civil society organization for raising many social issues including the regressive attitude of a male-dominated society.

Box office

It established a new box office record in

Pakistani cinema Cinema of Pakistan, popularly known as Lollywood ( ur, ), refers to the filmmaking industry in Pakistan. Pakistan is home to several film studios centres, primarily located in its three largest cities – Karachi, Lahore, and Faisalabad. ...

. It became the highest earning film in Pakistan in its first week of release, breaking all records. The previous record was held by

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

movie '' My Name Is Khan'', which grossed PKR 13.417 million in its first week, whereas ''Bol'' did a business of PKR 62.792 million in six days. In two weeks, the total gross revenue of the film from 24 screens amounted to PKR 94,287,090, thus finishing its run with 120 million in its bank. ''Bol'' collected 2,80,00000 from 75 screens in India. It got huge fame and appreciation in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

. In September 2011, the ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

'' reported that

Sahara One Sahara One is an Indian Hindi general entertainment channel based in New Delhi. It is operated by Sahara India Pariwar. History Sahara One was launched as Sahara TV on 28 March 2000, which later in April 2003 was renamed as Sahara Manoranjan. ...

network has bought seven-year satellite rights of 100 films, including

's ''Bol'' for a total of PKR 122 million for all.

Soundtrack

''Bol'' is the soundtrack album of the 2011

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

. Before the movie's release,

(who plays one of the main roles) in an interview stated, "I have done two songs for the soundtrack. It's been a great experience working with Shoaib Mansoor, he is an amazing person and very dedicated. My role isn't controversial and we discussed it beforehand. It's a film that is being made for a good cause." All songs are mixed and mastered by Kashif Ejaz. The singers include

Sajjad Ali Sajjad Ali (born 1962) is a Pakistani semi-classical, pop and rock singer, poet, actor, film director as well as a film producer from Karachi, Pakistan.Hadiqa Kiani Hadiqa Kiani (in Punjabi and ur, ) is a Pakistani singer, Songwriter, Guitarist, composer, actress, and philanthropist. She has received numerous local and international awards and also has performed at the Royal Albert Hall and The Kennedy ...

Ahmed Jahanzeb Ahmed Jahanzeb Usmani ( ur, ; born 28 May 1978) is a Pakistani pop singer and composer.Sahir Ali Bagga Sahir Ali Bagga (born 10 April 1980) is a Pakistani singer, music director and composer from Lahore, who composes music for Lollywood and other independent singers.The Express Tribune ''The Express Tribune'' is a daily English-language newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the flagship publication of the '' Daily Express'' media group. It is Pakistan's only internationally affiliated newspaper in a partnership with the ''Interna ...

'' called the movie's soundtrack "A surprising disappointment."

Awards

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bol 2011 films 2010s Urdu-language films Films scored by Sajjad Ali Films set in Lahore Films directed by Shoaib Mansoor 2010s feminist films Geo Films films Pakistani drama films Pakistani LGBT-related films Lollywood films 2011 drama films 2011 LGBT-related films Films about intersex