KARACHI: In the recently launched docudrama Paani Kay Pankh, produced by Tooba Jamil Baig, written by novelist and screenwriter Umera Ahmed, and filmed by ad film-maker Farooq Mannan, a young boy makes a paper ship and sails it in a river in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The boy’s grandfather, bathing in the same water miles away, waits for him to come home. The land, the narration explains, and we see, is either lush with life or rocky and arid; either way, there’s a lot of potential. The entire landscape of this part of KP — and Pakistan itself — will change once Mohmand dam, which has been in hiatus for years, becomes a reality, we’re told time and again.

Paani Kay Pankh, then is belief in a dream, in the guise of a documentary wearing the overalls of an expensive, dramatized ad film — and why shouldn’t it? The film is lensed by ace cinematographer Suleman Razzaq.

Music rouses, as drone shots fly through the Mohmand district, while the thirty-odd minute production sifts through harrowing facts: the impact of the war against terror in the area, the role of the armed forces, the heritage of the land, the warmth of its people and the construction of the dam. There’s enough material to span episodes. Within the short running time, we get ‘mini-sodes’, so to speak.

Zunaira Azhar, who came up with the concept, had been visiting the district for years. People in other countries would gape if they knew a woman would walk around KP freely, she says in the beginning.

Azhar, interviewing Prime Minister Imran Khan, cricketer Younis Khan, Wapda Chairman retired Lt General Muzammil Hussain, along with historians and locals, intermittently slips in between reality and fictional set pieces. Her conversations aren’t hardcore or politicized.

By the time Atif Aslam’s vocal track comes in by the end — a track, FYI, Aslam sang without monetary benefits — one is already roused by the message. However, there are no disclaimers in the end (or the beginning) to seek donations to fund the dam. That’s not the intention. Nor is this docudrama a commercial, money-making endeavour I am told (documentaries hardly make money in Pakistan).

The message behind this production is simple: show the warmth of the people, the heritage of the land, present a soft image of the country, and the potential and necessity of hydropower projects. Now, who could argue — or find fault — with this?

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2021