There are bad films.
There are worse films.
And then there’s Item—a film so confused it deserves to be studied, not screened.
Marketed as a story of female empowerment, Item instead delivers 142 minutes of lazy storytelling disguised as social commentary. It assumes two things: that all men are villains, and that audiences are stupid. Thankfully, neither is true.
The film opens with a mujra posing as an item song—money flying, dignity missing—and never recovers. We’re told the heroine’s journey from office girl to item star happened in “Five Years Later.” That’s it. No struggle. No substance. Just a slide. Feminism, apparently, now comes with a fast-forward button.
The item numbers themselves look like they were shot during a tea break—same stage, tired choreography, zero energy. One song even borrows the James Bond theme, because… why not? Bold film? Not bold enough for a bold censor rating.
Worse, the film feels trapped in the 1960s. Fathers die after slapping daughters, aunts moralise loudly, lovers get stranded in rest houses, and the heroine sings in the mountains for exactly one man. Check the calendar—it’s 2025, not 1965.
Azad Khan tries to inject life into the film but looks misplaced. Veteran actors appear briefly, shouting their way through scenes that might’ve felt progressive half a century ago.
The soundtrack is another relic—1990s-style compositions, recycled sad songs, and a painful remake of Bijli Bhari Hai that proves nostalgia can’t save bad filmmaking.
And that’s why Item is a scam film. How did it get funded? Who approved its release next to Avatar? Why did anyone think this would pull audiences toward Pakistani cinema instead of pushing them away?
Ironically, the most interesting character is a TV anchor who goes from rejected fashion photographer to prime-time star—an arc the film completely ignores. That alone could’ve been a better movie.
The film ends with its final “lesson”: women should learn martial arts to survive. Useful? Maybe. Sufficient? Not even close.
Item doesn’t empower women.
It embarrasses Pakistani cinema.
