Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani girl who has inspired a lot of girls, not just in her country but all over the world. She has made a mark with her achievements and is a role model for many. Director H.E. Amjad Khan has helmed a biopic on her titled Gul Makai. But the film, unfortunately, fails to do justice to Malala's achievements.
The movie starts with animated credits where we are introduced to Malala and her family. But after the starting credits, the movie just moves away from Malala and it concentrates on how the Talibans started ruling the Swat Valley in Pakistan and banned a lot of things there like music, Television, education for girls and more.
In the first 30-45 minutes, we hardly get to see the character of Malala (Reem Shaikh). At a point, I actually started feeling if I am in a wrong movie as the character of Malala gets totally forgotten. Before a few minutes of the interval, finally, Malala gets some limelight in the movie.
You feel that now at least the second half will be dedicated to Malala. But once again you are left disappointed here. Malala has achieved so much in life and her achievements are shown in the end credits of the film. Instead of putting those achievements in the end credits the makers could have included it in the film. Malala is known for her speeches, but here we are not even shown a proper speech of her or an article of her.
Even if we forget that this is a biopic on Malala and it just shows the war that happened in Swat Valley, still the film is not up to the mark. The screenplay is weak and the shaky camera work ruins the whole feel of the movie. Adding to the torture is the background score and the music of the film.
Talking about actors, Reem Shaikh is good as Malala, but we wish she had more screen time in the film to perform. Atul Kulkarni is also quite good as Malala's father. But a talented actress like Divya Dutta is wasted here.
Overall, Gul Makai is not a biopic that Malala Yousafzai deserves.
Ratings: 2/5
Watch the trailer here...
