Hakim Sahib

The primary antagonist in Shoaib Mansoor’s film “Bol” is Hakim Sahib, but the films treatment of him is not out rightly negative. Though he increasingly relies on violence to deal with his problems the movie highlights his desperate situation at different places to encourage a sympathetic response from the audience. The scene where he tries every job he can get his hands on to replace the money he has taken from the masked fund is one particular such scene. The film portrays him not necessarily as an evil person but as someone who is rigid and unwilling to embrace change. Though hikmat is no longer a flourishing profession he still practices it as it is the profession of his elders, he is unwilling to let his daughters study or work as it is not the practice of the shareef khandaan, he even dresses in the way typical of pre-partition men, completely different from all other men in the movie. Parallel to Hakim Sahib’s rigidity is the changing environment that surrounds them. Even though his ancestor’s settled in Lahore because it reminded them of Delhi, the truth is it is a different place with a different way of living. The Punjabiness of Lahore is the essential opposing force to Hakim Sahib’s way of life and you show the film at several instances elevates the status of the Punjabi over the Urdu speaking Hakim Sahib. A contrast is produced with Mustafa’s family who despite their limited income are happy and prosperous. Thus Hakim Sahib is caught in the trap of tradition, which, for him, has over time become intertwined with religion and thus to break it is unacceptable. It is in this struggle, the desperation to preserve the old way of life, that he faces his downfall.