Sometimes you go watch a movie because of its name and sometimes you go because of the names associated with it. This time when we entered the cinema it was because of the later. ARTH – THE DESTINATION, directed by none other than Shan Shahid, had been making rounds in the news for quite some time especially because of its association with the much acclaimed Mahesh Bhatt’s Arth. Also because this was going to mark the return of Pakistan’s super star Shan back into the industry.
The movie revolves around a former music star Ali (Shan Shahid) who has just recently gone through divorce, returns to Pakistan and is struggling to find his place in music industry again. On the other side we have a struggling writer Uzma (Uzma Hassan) who is married to a Movie Director (Mohib Mirza) who falls in love with the movie star Humaima (Humaima Malik) and leaves uzma for her. The story unravels when Uzma who is a die hard fan of Ali, bumps into him and the two start off with a friendship that is all about being supportive and caring for each other in times of personal and professional turmoils.
The movie definitely comes with its own hits and misses of course. Uzma Hassan was a winner for me because of her strong hold on the character and putting forward the 
emotions through the screen. You actually feel sympathetic towards her and call her husband a jerk many times during the movie. Shan Shahid was good as well but at times his acting looked forced especially during the song Murshed Jee,which by the way is an amazing song. Humaima looked as sensual as she should have been with that perfect schizophrenic attitude that makes you shift in your seats, a cookie for her for the perfect play!
The songs were really nicely done, our favorite turned out to be, of course Murshed Jee, though not shot so well but with those strong vocals we loved it. Ronay de and Sanwar de khudaya have a really nice melodious feel to them that would definitely make it to your playlist if you give them a chance .
Now one thing that made us cringe was the plenty of close up shots and close frames which were literally in your face. I mean that looking at close ups in that big cinema screen most of the time kind of gets a little too much, I get it 
you are focusing on the expressions but that doesn’t mean you keep the camera focused on the face most of the time. More over the way scenes were abruptly cut in the beginning were a big turn off to be honest, it looked like it was hastily put together with chopping off chunks through the movie. Especially the sudden brewing of romance between Humaima’s and Mohib Mirza’s characters made us go like wait what? Who walks off the set Pointing finger at the director one minute and is making out with him the next moment? Like whaaaa? Yup that’s exactly what we went through watching it.
Had it been a little more well framed with a transition between the scenes that made more sense rather then going all chop chop on the reel, it would have been a much better watch. Also a little more character development during the movie nevey hurt no body which I think actually adds to the whole feel of the movie and it doesn’t look rushed and hastily made.
All in all, it was a decent watch, neither something we would be gushing about nor we came out demanding 2 hours of our life back. The music is absolutely beautiful and Uzma is a delight to watch on big screen. Its a 3/5 from me, if you have got nothing planned for the weekend, it might be a good idea to go have a look at this one.
