Directed by artist Safwan Sabzwari, Laal (Red) is a recently released short film which explores female oppression.

Dedicated to the late journalist and musician Musadiq Sanwal, Laal is a highly symbolic monochromatic video, showing two characters — a man and a young woman played by actors Adnan Jaffar and Madiha Zaidi, with Jaffar portraying various roles hinting at the different faces of men in Pakistani society.

The brains behind the concept, Safwan Sabzwari told Dawn.com what exactly led him to Laal:

"I wrote and composed the song about two years ago. At the time, I had isolated myself from the outside world. No phone, No Facebook, etc. Much like the character ‘Aaliya’ in the Laal video, I wanted to write a song about the human experience."

The video opens with Adnan chopping up a slaughtered chicken with a grim look on his face as a little girl, Aaliya, accompanied by her father, backs off. Later on, the video shows her locked up in a room as she watches news about a girl being set free after being locked away for 10 years.

That's when that a hen pops out of the bed she sits on, indicating a way out of the house. She frees herself and where she meets Jaffar on the street, where he plays a man selling paan.

"I used the colour laal as a tool to combine the positive and the negative aspects of life into one color. Hence the line “Laal haraam hai aur halaal haraam hai", says Sabzwari.

“Laal is not about the color but more about the feelings the color evokes and the atmosphere it creates. The reason for using black and white is to take the attention away from the surface and go somewhere deeper in to the mind of the color. If laal was human what would his/her philosophy be? That is what I am interested in," adds Sabzwari.

Aaliya is later shown sitting at a table as an authoritative, elderly woman chooses a man for her from what appears to be a ‘menu’ of men. The scene shifts and we see Jaffar as a tailor now, creating a bridal dress for Aaliya.

Aaliya escapes him again, only to end up beside him as his bride at a wedding where all the guests wear masks. What happens at the video's close is anyone's guess, as its left open to interpretation.

Sabzwari explains that his film is about a state of mind and the struggle of a girl as an individual in Pakistani society: “The hole is the tipping point. I use surrealism and absurdity to explain the reality of Pakistani girls. Many of whom are at this tipping point deciding whether to go in or not. Living as a girl in Pakistan is so complicated that it cannot be explained in any other way. The film does not tell you what to feel but instead uses surrealist elements to evoke the character's feeling inside the viewer. Empathy instead of sympathy.”

An outtake of the profound lyrics:

Laal hai dil

Laal aasmaan

Laal soch

Laal sawal

Laal Jawab

'Laal' doesn’t only leave the viewers perturbed but provides an insight into the hypocrisy of the society where women are promised quasi rights and are later subjugated with men dominating them. It shows how there is no escape from the vicious circle as the only means to escape is also later sealed.