Door Ki Awaz (2019)
Cast: Deeba, Habib, Adeeb, Ajmal, Saqi, Zahoor Shah, Raj Multani
Director: Baqar Rizvi
Synopsis: Fear grips the Feudals of Kanganpur, and the villagers believe a spate of related deaths is due to something very sinister.
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

Baqar Rizvi’s name stands out among Lollywood directors of years gone by who frequently dared to push the envelope and dabble with genres other than the staple diet of romance, social drama, and comedy. He may not have succeeded at the box office as much as he hoped, but his work makes for far more fascinating viewing than most. In Door Ki Awaz, the setting is a remote farming village where powerful feudal landlords hold sway despite growing, simmering resentment of their tyranny and injustices.

Habib is a dashing young man who has just returned from England as a polished brown sahib and wears only suits like a true Angrez. Members of his feudal family have mysteriously been murdered in recent times. Habib is determined to find out whether it is a plot to ruin his family or, as the villagers claim, a dreadful curse as revenge for dark deeds from the past. A third likelihood, though remote but cannot be ruled out, is that there is a People’s uprising against the feudal system.

Habib is frequently disturbed by the ominous sounds of anklets and a distant song; the same sounds usually preclude a new mysterious death.

The villagers have mixed feelings about Habib’s return to handle his family’s feudal affairs as they have grown to resent the callous treatment at the hands of his predecessors. Yet, they welcome him, if with a slight grudge and hopeful that he may prove a better feudal lord than those before him. Habib discusses the mysterious deaths with the locals and finds some more sympathetic than others and some who dismiss the notion that it could be something supernatural.

The nights at the village of Kanganpur are shrouded in mystery, with an ominous presence threatening to strike a deathly blow at any moment. Everyone is a suspect, including the sleazy doctor who has no patients and habitually walks around at odd night hours. There is the resentful and lame Saqi with his eyes on Deeba and some land. He carries around an anklet that sounds exactly like the one that signals a lethal strike.

As the plot thickens, there is an investigator named Jasoos, an incompetent, bungling buffoon who is also reasonably amusing in the charming old-school manner of the Johnny Walker years. Indeed, Johnny Walker had a spin-off actor in Pakistan named Paani Walker!

Habib and Deeba’s romance runs into hurdles while the murderer continues his killing spree, soon targeting Habib. The climax arrives with a hideous creature ambushing Habib and attempting to claw him to death with deadly sharp and curiously hairy talons. It is a fight to the end—will Habib succeed in identifying the killer, or will the murderous freak murder the last of the bloodline of the feudal family? Everything is revealed with a shocking twist that nobody saw coming.

Door Ki Awaz is a mildly entertaining murder thriller set in a feudal setting. It keeps the viewer engrossed with its mystery and some light romance and comedy, with Deeba excelling and Habib dapper

Door Ki Awaz and dashing as usual. As a sedate thriller, it marks a welcome change from the formula.

Baqar Rizvi was constantly toying with thrillers or Bond-style escapism, and though his efforts were often more miss than hit, they were still more entertaining than many. This earlier effort shows some style but not too much substance. Yet, it never flags and is short enough from becoming the usually predictable monotony that so many Lollywood movies end up with. On the whole, a film worth revisiting on a rainy Sunday afternoon.