Parwaaz Hai Junoon – written by Farhat Ishtiaq, directed by Haseeb Hassan & produced by Momina Duraid is a Pakistani film released on Eid ul Azha & it is definitely a must-watch because right from the beginning, it just grabs your attention & each & every frame tells a tale of the hard work that has gone into making this movie what it is.
Parwaaz Hai Junoon is a story revolving around the lives of Pakistani Air Force Cadets & Pilots. The movie shows all the phases that one goes through in order to serve their country; from having a dream in their eyes to join the Air Force, to perseverance shown through the course of their training, to the time when the Country needs their services, alongside their personal lives where they are just regular people experiencing all kinds of emotions. The movie has a perfect blend of everything; there’s comedy, there’s romance, there’s drama & then such moments where you are left teary eyed because you have formed this connection with all the characters that they affect you on an emotional level. Parwaaz Hai Junoon highlights how everyone associated with Air Force is not only a fighter by profession, but is a fighter & a go-getter in every aspect of life – that is why all the characters have one thing in common & that is competitiveness. I must say what I liked the most about Parwaaz Hai Junoon is that it doesn’t portray everyone as a robotic hero, they all are shown as human beings who have their strengths & weaknesses, which makes it all quite realistic.
The story keeps on shifting between the past & the present, which some viewers might find confusing at first but it later makes sense & everything falls into place. Sania (Hania Amir) & Hamza (Hamza Ali Abbasi) are the lead characters with the entire movie based on their journey; together & on their own as well. Nadir (Shaz Khan), Saad (Ahad Raza Mir), Zaid (Syed Shafat Ali) & Rashid Minhas (Sikandar Vincent Khan) are the supporting characters who also have a very strong role to play. The cast also includes actors like Rasheed Naz, Asif Raza Mir, Hina Bayat, Marina Khan, Kubra Khan, Shamoon Abbasi, Adnan Jaffar, Farhaan Ali Agha, Faris Shafi & Mustafa Changezi & each one of them have played their roles to perfection. It is worth mentioning how fit & schmick everyone looked & how they all paid attention to the body language, fitting the characters they were assigned to portray.
The songs are really nice & have been picturized beautifully too but I feel they could have cut down on a couple of them to show us a bit more of their lives as Cadets in training. My favorite has to be the Qawwali because the scenario that it was used for struck a chord even more because of that. A good part of the movie is dedicated to personal lives of Hamza, Sania & Nadir that at times I felt I wanted to see more of what was happening in the Air Force Academy. It won’t be wrong to say that Parwaaz Hai Junoon can also be classified as a love story but yes, when the movie ends, you totally come out feeling satisfied with the message conveyed loud & clear that the love for Pakistan overruled everything for all the characters. It has been reinforced repeatedly that for men serving their country, nothing else matters more than Pakistan. Operation Zarb e Azb has also been touched upon & the way the Cadets are trained to become GD Pilots has been shown convincingly as well but I wish this part was elaborated further because it was done so so well & was quite interesting to watch!
The movie is visually appeasing & aesthetically sound with the director doing complete justice to the beauty of Pakistan. Every single frame is awe-inspiring & I must say, the opening sequence along with all the other flying sequences were brilliantly done. Special effects & graphics were totally impressive. I must say I am impressed that in a span of 2 hours 10 minutes, they managed to show so much & gave coverage to each & every character that you don’t feel anything was missed out.
I highly recommend Parwaaz Hai Junoon & I must say, Hamza Ali Abbasi has found a new fan in me. He surely has carried the movie on his shoulders & Hania Amir proved that she was a right bet for playing such a huge role because she was phenomenal & has a strong screen presence. The chemistry between the characters is amazing too. Shaz Khan & Ahad Raza Mir were brilliant. Kubra Khan didn’t have much role to play & I feel any other actress could have done that character just fine. Syed Shafaat Ali was phenomenal & he perfectly provided that comic quotient which was needed in the film. Haseeb Hassan deserves a special mention because without his vision, Parwaaz Hai Junoon wouldn’t have been this good. Camera work, direction, angles & different shots contributed a lot in setting the mood of the film right.
If you want to enjoy this movie completely, I will suggest going without expecting anything & it will surely surprise you. I really didn’t have anything on my mind & I took the movie as it came & ended up enjoying it a lot. For me, a blend of everything works & because the movie started on a lighter note & then got intense, it ended up being a complete package. I won’t give anything away but I will say, my favorite character has to be of Sherbatgul & to find out who he/she is, you will have to watch Parwaaz Hai Junoon yourself!
Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.