One Line Review: Halal Love Story is a light-hearted movie that revolves around two people who are interested in movies decides to shoot a movie without hurting their religious views.
Starring: Indrajith Sukumaran, Grace Antony, Joju George, Sharaf U Dheen, Nazar Karutheni
Director: Zakariya
Writers: Zakariya Mohammed, Muhsin Parari
Release Date: 15 October 2020
What is it about?
You can find feel-good movies in abundance in Mollywood, but still, each will be beautiful in its way. Halal Love Story is such a try from the director of ‘Sudani From Nigeria’, Zakaria. The movie revolves around the desperate attempts of two people of a particular religion to make a movie without hurting their community’s religious beliefs.
“A film with a fresh theme and genuine performances.”
~ The Times Of India
The movie easily deserves a rating of 08/10 for its execution and mainly for the competitive performances delivered by the cast.
Summary
Thoufeeq is a school teacher who also has an interest in writing and arts. He is approached for writing a script by two men, Rahim and Shereef, two movie enthusiasts. They require to make a movie without hurting their religious community standards.
The story is set-up in a Muslim backdrop and the people who take this movie forward are all a couple of movie lovers attempting to make a movie. Thoufeeq comes up with a satisfying script to make a telemovie and he gets the approval of the Muslim community of that particular area.
With collective efforts, they raise the funds to produce the movie and approaches a director, Siraj, for making the movie. Siraj who is not interested in making this movie tries to bring up lame excuses to change their minds from the project but finally gives up and agrees to direct the movie.
Rahim and Shereef decide to cast a real-life husband and wife to play the role of the husband and wife in the script so that it won’t stand against their community beliefs as they are adamant in making their group of artists active in the movie as a part of decreasing the movie-making cost. For this, Shereef, who is a street play artist and his wife Suhara is voted for playing the role of the protagonists.
The rest of the movie is about their efforts in making this movie and about the inner conflicts faced by the people involved backed up by some religious touch of the community.
Cast and Performances
Halal Love Story was another successful try by director Zakaria. The movie did succeed in showcasing the efforts in making a movie, the religious aspects of the Muslim community along the drama going on in each other’s life.
Joju George as Siraj the director was too convincing sporting the mannerisms of a typical filmmaker. Well, to applaud the performances individually will be a tedious task as each and everyone in this movie had given their best.
Indrajith who did the role of Shereef, a man who is interested in acting, and Grace who played the role of his wife Suhara won’t be forgotten so easily after watching the movie.
The on-screen couple effortlessly pulled off their roles. They had to deal with the acting part inside the movie and along with this new experience, the couple is exploring their inner conflicts which were a hurdle in their marriage life.
Along with this, Siraj is showcased having an emotional conflict with his family and daughter in his personal life. Joju George’s performance as a failed husband and a father is just seamless.
Apart from these characters, Sharaf U Dheen is the one who shone as an actor throughout the movie. His portrayal of Thoufeeq was commendable.
Nazar Karutheni who played the role of Rahim, Soubin who did the role of a sound technician and delivered some humorous moments to the story,
Parvati who did the role of an acting trainer along with each and everyone who was a part of the cast did great on-screen.
Review
The audience can easily relate to the movie as all the characters involved reminds of someone they might have met at some point in their life. The way the climax scene of the telefilm made by the cast inside the movie shows the beauty of film making.
Other moments from the movie depict the efforts included while making a movie and most importantly, the movie is an answer to a question – Can one successfully balance their passion without hurting their religious beliefs?
Conclusion
Halal Love Story is a comedy Drama that is lovely in its own way. Though a few moments such as the dramatic moments going on in the personal life of the people involved in the story could seem a bit lagging, the movie has its moments to cherish! Clearly a One Time Watch!
