When we first meet Fawad Khagga (Humayun Saeed), the heir to a rural landlord family in Punjab, the town is ecstatic about his accomplishment. After a 10-year dogged pursuit, Fawad is finally an M.A in political science. However, the degree he flashes in the air as he enters his haveli is a piece of wall-decoration. Fawad doesn’t need it. The certificate, though, tells you all you need to know about him: he is a man who loves to chase after things single-mindedly.
Like his alumnus status, his next object of fancy and conquest is Amal (Mehwish Hayat), the daughter of a close family friend and who has just returned from London with a bachelors degree in economics. Somewhat modern, Amal doesn’t like the “feudal” mindset of Fawad’s family, even when we see no sign of it in the film.
Contrary to her perception, the Khagga clan is a fairly domesticated lot with an open-minded, educated mom, a meek dad and a fun granddad with a penchant for mujras (Saba Hameed, Waseem Abbas and Sohail Ahmed — a hoot). In fact, they could pass off as any upper-middle class family.
Amal’s family lives in Karachi — giving credence to the film’s title — and is more traditional in their attitude. Their outmoded set of values are kept alive by their matriarch Bebo Jee, played by Naveed Shahzad. Bebo Jee’s keen-eyed life experience immediately senses the change in Amal’s independent point of view of the world, among other things, which will not be revealed here. She sums it up in one single moment in the film watching Amal, wearing a tank-top, shoot hoops. Noticing the spring in her step Bebo Jee ruminates, “(Kyun) uskay pair zameen par nahin.”
Punjab Nahi Jaungi has an infectious appeal. It may be the year’s best locally produced entertainer
In a way, Punjab Nahi Jaungi (PNJ) is as much about Amal’s wayward and intractable unconventionality as it is about Fawad’s bullheadedness. The contest is less about love — which miraculously happens to Fawad and Amal at different times in the film — and more about the stiff-necked pursuit of what they want.