Bol (film)

'Speak') is a 2011 Pakistani Urdu-language social drama film written, directed, and produced by Shoaib Mansoor.

The film stars Humaima Malik, Atif Aslam, Mahira Khan, Iman Ali, Shafqat Cheema, Amr Kashmiri, Manzar Sehbai, and Zaib Rehman in the lead roles.

It concerns a 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 child.

This film was part of a maternal and child health project, PAIMAN (Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns), implemented by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHU.CCP), which entered into a partnership with Shoaib Mansoor's Shoman Productions in 2009.

The project's objective was to advocate for women's rights by bringing the focus of the 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 film.

[2] Bol is set in Lahore and many students from the National College of Arts' (NCA) filmmaking department assisted Shoaib Mansoor on it.

At the president’s office, his assistant brings him a form to sign for an appeal to forgive Zainab’s death sentence.

He then presents another form which asks for Zainab’s strange request — to call media outlets and the press to the site of her hanging to “record her story” in the case that her appeal is denied.

He bribes a police officer to keep it a secret with two lakh (200,000 rupees or ~$2.5k USD) and is forced to take money out of the masjid funds.

The mother tells the kids what happened, and Zainab insists they all leave the house and move somewhere else to start a new life.

The ending scene shows Meena, with a man, entering the cafe and recognising her daughter among the happy women of the Zainab family.

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave 4/5 describing it as "A brilliant film embellished with bravura performances.

At a time when funeral prayers for Pakistan’s cinema are being held and most filmmakers are moving toward television, Bol is an inspiration.

"[7] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film 2.5 out of 5, writing, "Even when it turns out to be too wordy,and much too long-winded, there's no denying that 'Bol' is important.

[10] 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.

Before the movie's release, Atif Aslam (who plays one of the main roles) in an interview stated, "I have done two songs for the soundtrack.

The song Hona Tha Pyar was written and composed by Ali Javed- a 16 years old school boy from Toba Tek Singh (a small town of Punjab).