Pak Daman (1969)
Cast: Sabiha Khanum, Santosh Kumar, Deeba, Ejaz, Aalia, Lehri, Ragni
Director: Hassan Tariq
Synopsis: Intriguing plot includes elements of family drama, crime thriller and courtroom saga.
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

Pak Daman is remembered—if at all—for being a tad different from the usual run-of-the-mill offered by 95% of Lollywood filmmakers. The movie could almost be classified as a crime thriller rather than the usual romantic piffle.

Hasan Tariq’s Pak Daman begins with an ageing lawyer, Santosh, eloping with sweetheart Sabiha and forcing his best mate to keep the matter a secret from fire-breathing mother-in-law, Ragni. We aren’t told why Santosh is keen to keep the case a secret, but you can guess the worst. However, Lehri can’t stomach a secret and blurts out everything to a stunned Ragni, who proceeds to cut her son off from her massive inheritance and the family zillions. Santosh, realizing that life won’t be a bed of roses without the riches he is accustomed to, decides to take his bride and face the music in the form of the fire-breathing monster Ragni. At first, things don’t go as smoothly as the Mother rants and raves, but gradually, the newlyweds win her over and she begins taking to Sabiha as “one of us”.

Later, Ragni decides to send a visibly 50-year-old Santosh to do his bachelor’s degree in the UK, and thus Sabiha is left alone to fend on her own for four years while her hubby does the student thing in London.

First, Sabiha gives birth to a baby girl, and things proceed merrily until a month before Santosh returns, the doorbell rings, and the dreadful visitors drop a bombshell. Ragni rages like never before, compelling her distraught daughter-in-law to jump in the lake, which Sabiha dutifully does. Later, she is rescued in an unconscious state by some trendy passersby who happens to be connected to the most dastardly criminal network in the country. Later, a reptilian prostitute arrives with her mousy pimp, and she tells Ragni that Sabiha is her daughter, the daughter of a cheap, two-bit sex worker.

It so happens that the criminal gang’s kingpin (or queen-pin) happens to be the spitting image of Sanober (Sabiha). The gang plans to use her as a decoy or alibi to cover for the criminal Cat woman-like Boss Lady while she goes on her crime sprees, looting and pillaging the city for all its worth. Poor good Sabiha is turned from saintly Sanober to super smuggler Shahida, but alas, one of their heists goes wrong for the crime gang, and the police find their underground hideout.

While the evil Boss Lady Sabiha and her cohorts manage to escape, they deliberately leave the good Sabiha behind. The police will mistake her for the evil Boss Lady and incarcerate her by mistaken identity. At the same time, the real nasty piece of work can enjoy her millions. Thus, poor suicidal Sabiha is now in the heinous clutches of a most deadly and ruthless criminal group who are hatching plans to use her as a critical device in achieving their nefarious deeds.

Years have gone by meanwhile, and a heartbroken Santosh has become a judge while his (and good Sabiha’s) daughter Deeba has grown up into a pretty young lawyer. The latter is romancing another fellow law graduate, Ejaz, in her spare time. Having been caught, Good Sabiha is now up to her ears with the court case going badly against her, but Deeba, her real daughter, somehow senses that she is

Pak Daman an innocent pawn in a big, tangled web and decides to take up her cause.

Meanwhile, Santosh has to find out why his wife suddenly decided to pick up and leave him while he was in London. Little does he know that his evil plotting, scheming, malicious mother was responsible for all the mess. Whether things can untangle themselves sufficiently for the film to wind its way to the expected “happy ending” remains to be seen.

The film was a minor success at the Box Office, celebrating a countrywide Silver Jubilee and suggesting that the public was happy to watch something away from the staple diet of romance and tragedy. Santosh Kumar was the producer and the film’s main star. Still, he has difficulty passing as a young lawyer, with his considerably puffy face, wrinkles, and jet-black dyed hair giving the game away.

Sabiha looked fine but had already lost whatever semblance of a figure she may ever have had. However, the film is essentially a Sabiha-dominated film. She has a juicy double role in getting her teeth into it and relishes the prospect of playing the evil, chain-smoking Boss Lady Super-criminal to the absolute hilt (shades of Ida Lupino from Classic Batman of the 60s). It’s yet another feather in Sabiha's already highly decorated cap. She even turns in a spectacular show-stopping dance number with Madame Noor Jehan’s super saucy iss jhoomti mehfil main. She performs her incredible dance number while barely maintaining her drunken balance, dressed in a breathtakingly bizarre outfit.

Deeba is fair as the energetic young lawyer, but Ejaz lacks spark. Ragni does justice to the role of dragonesque mother, while Aalia is mainly utilized for her unparalleled dancing ability, hair throws and spectacularly curvaceous hips!