Cast:
Amna Ilyas as Rafina
Saba Hameed
Beo Raana Zafar
Yasir Aqueel
Atta Yaqub
Khalid Malik
Farhan Ally Aga
Savera Nadeem
Akef Illyas
Shaheen Khan
Amina Sheikh
Director: Sabiha Sumar
Producer: Sachithanandam Sathananthan
Production value
Story: Shandana Minhas
Screenplay: Malia Scotch, Marmo, Sabiha Sumar and Samhita Arni
Editing: Maurice Bedaux, Rob Das and Bart Van Den Broek
Music: Robert Logan
Release date: 1st January, 2015
Box office: Rs 4.5 million (USD 44,000)
Released on 1st January, 2015, “Good Morning Karachi” is yet another example of the maturity Pakistani film industry is gaining. In its hour and a half duration, the director Sabiha Sumar has tried to portray the highs and lows of the cosmopolitan city.
The movie is set in the year 2007 and uses the assassination of Benazir Bhutto to represent the violence, fear and uncertainty that has now become a part and parcel of Karachi.
Good Morning Karachi shows that despite the culture of violence, the young Pakistani generation is trying to find new avenues to move ahead and to create a better and more tolerant environment.
The movie Good Morning Karachi gets its title from a fictional radio show which the leading lady Rafina listens to; the program is often interrupted with announcements of bomb blasts and violent clashes.
Good Morning Karachi revolves around the dreams and aspirations of Rafina (Amna Ilyas) a young girl belonging to a low income family who works as a beautician in a modeling agency.
Rafina is ambitious and wants to live the life of her rich clients whose top most worry is the unavailability of a decent bagel in Karachi. Such is her passion that she even practices English by listening to audio guides while doing her household chores.
Her mother (Saba Hameed) has arranged her marriage with a neighbor (Yasir Aqueel) who is a supporter of a political party. As luck would have it Rafina gets a chance to work as a model in the agency she works for.
With the support of her khala (Aunt Rosie played by Beo Raana Zafar), Rafina enters the world of glitz and glamour and soon becomes a celebrity; the rest of the movie Good Morning Karachi is about her inner conflicts, the effect of success on her personal life and her hopes to inspire people from her background to come forward and follow their dreams.
The movie Good Morning Karachi has aptly captured the spirit of the young men and women of Pakistan, how despite the uncertain conditions and all the negativity that surrounds them, they want to move on and pursue their dreams. The movie has its flaws with its abrupt ending being the biggest one but despite its flaws it was a good movie and such efforts need to be appreciated.
