Tucked somewhere within Mera Lyari’s overly long 90-minute runtime is a much better film. Good luck finding it, though. Like Waldo from Where’s Waldo? it exists — but you have to really squint to see where it hides.
Abu Aleeha’s 10th (or is it 11th?) directorial feature — I’ve lost count by now — is a notch better than Taxali Gate, his previous big-screen venture produced by and starring Ayesha Omar.
Omar returns here as executive producer and actor, playing Behnaz, an ex-footballer-turned-national coach. However, unlike Taxali Gate, her presence is negligible, despite being billed as front-and-centre alongside the film’s lead, Dananeer Mobeen.
Dananeer is the glue — no, make that super-glue — holding together this exceedingly thin story of a girl from Lyari named Afsana, who dreams of playing pro-football and who ultimately gets selected. That is the entire gist. One wishes there were more — both in terms of the story and football.
Despite star Dananeer Mobeen’s valiant attempts to kick it into the stratosphere, Mera Lyari, which champions female empowerment and football, stumbles like all of director Abu Aleeha’s films
