The Blood of Hussein

The Blood of Hussein

Imdb rating 8.3/10

My rating 4/10


Can be dowloaded from:
http://rapidshare.com/files/143232586/jdTBOH81.part01.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/143234622/jdTBOH81.part02.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/143236556/jdTBOH81.part03.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/143238548/jdTBOH81.part04.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/143240595/jdTBOH81.part05.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/143242468/jdTBOH81.part06.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/143244521/jdTBOH81.part07.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/143246335/jdTBOH81.part08.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/143248247/jdTBOH81.part09.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/143249937/jdTBOH81.part10.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/143251586/jdTBOH81.part11.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/143253289/jdTBOH81.part12.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/143254361/jdTBOH81.part13.rar

(All credits to original uploader )

Password: lovermanUK

VHSrip with hardcoded english subs for urdu dialogs

"The Blood of Hussein" is Jamil Dehlavis much talked about Pro democracy, anti dictatorship film which was supposedly banned by HRH Zia ul Haq. Before Dehlavi could release it martial law was enacted by Zia which forced him to run away to the UK and release it there under patronship of the Channel 4.

The Film is a dramatisation of the tragic story of Karbala, which happened more than a millennium ago and has been forever entrenched in history as the epitome of a struggle against dictatorial rule. Where as the event itself is awe inspiring and motivational, the film however falls far short from being inspiring, let alone watchable.
Dehlavi seemed confused whether he wants to follow the desi version of movie making or the hollywood style. In the former, the film is painfully slow but is 3 hours long during which the director gets enough time to tell the story of the film as well. The latter, ie the Hollywood version is fast paced 1.5-2 hours long where the film is succinct and to the point and rarely tortures the viewer for being excruciatingly sluggish. Dehlavi tries to do both , the first hour is torturous and makes you regret having wasted 60 precious minutes of your life, and when the real story begins past that mark then your mind has already wandered so much that it is difficult too connect with the characters in the movie.

Story wise the movie, is one could say, farely ok. But given the significance of the event that they were trying to re-enact I felt that perhaps it could have been better in this aspect as well. The Blood of Hussein revolves around two brothers, Salim and Hussein. Hussein is a real peoples man, living among the peasants and not being pompous about his upper class origins. The other, Salim, is a bureaucrat working for the military government and can be thought of as a 70s portrayal of Pakistan's Prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, under Pervaiz Musharraf post 2002.
In this backdrop, the battle lines of the story are drawn as the military vs the people with Hussein and Salim picking there respective sides. But with dehlavi wasting a lot of precious time in a subplot where Salims wife is cheating on him with an army major, there is hardly any time left for the viewer to connect with the protagonist of the story. Consequently the heroism displayed by him is fantastic but is not enough to inspire.


Thus, the director hardly does justice to the movie or to the event that they were trying to portray and for being an anti dictator movie it fails in every aspect to move the viewer, like films such as V for Vendetta did. Besides, I suppose this movie would have been banned regardless of its "message" for it contains nude scenes. I personally give it 4/10 and cant imagine how its rated anything more than this.