JEDDAH: Pakistani feature film Wakhri — One of a Kind, inspired by social media star Qandeel Baloch, who fell victim to honour killing a few years ago, had its world premiere at the Red Sea Film Festival.

That the movie is inspired by Qandeel doesn’t mean it’s based on her life. When asked why it was not so, director Iram Parveen Bilal told Dawn she did not base the film of the ill-fated Qandeel’s life because she did not want to glorify the way her story ended, in tragedy.

“This story is far more than Qandeel Baloch, as there are a lot of people (like her) who are alive but who go into the shadows after such killings and are silenced. I did not want to get into that [quagmire]. But if you make a film for a bigger canvas and give a tribute to somebody, that promotes the person more. People need to know that person (Qandeel) as those who don’t know her outside Pakistan are bound to Google her.”

The film revolves around a schoolteacher, Noor Malik (Faryal Mehmood), a single mother who is raising funds for a school building for her community in Lahore. She is friends with a trans person (Gulshan Majeed) and frequents social gatherings of the trans community.

Inspired by the story of Qandeel Baloch, Iram Parveen Bilal’s film is set to debut in Pakistan on Jan 5

After a video of her at one such occasion goes viral, her friend urges her to use this fame to raise funds for the school. One thing leads to another, and she starts to get a lot of negative attention, leading to tragedy.

The movie is a mix of Bollywood masala-style and art-house cinema, especially in the second half, when the activist streak becomes more prominent. The standout aspect of the film is undoubtedly the performance of the actors, especially Faryal and Gulshan. Even those in minor roles, like Noor’s mother (played by Bakhtawar Mazhar) did justice to their characters.

Fictionalising inspiration

Ms Bilal said she needed to fictionalise the inspiration she got from Qandeel and add more characters to it, like Gucchi (Gulshan).

She said the lead character’s main purpose was activism and change. “This happened in Qandeel’s life when she noticed that people were listening and [when] she started raising points, she got in trouble.”

Earlier, at the screening, the director said the journey of the movie started long before Qandeel, with Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

“When she was killed, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Every time an active woman is killed, a part of me goes down with her.”

She called the film her “love letter to women of Pakistan and the world over”, as well as their allies. In her view, it represented all those who feel that they must squeeze into one role or another and remain incomplete in order to conform to society’s wishes.

“Iram and I started talking about this film in 2017 and we have come a long way — six years. It’s not easy making this kind of cinema. The film is releasing in Pakistani theatres next month. With minimum cuts, this version is being released in Pakistan on January 5,” said Abid Ali Merchant, the producer, at the screening of the film.

When asked about the new wave of Pakistani cinema, Gulshan, who made his debut in the film, says that talk of the revival of Pakistani films has been there for ages and every time a new movie comes, they term it as a revival of Pakistani cinema. “For the past couple of years, Pakistani films like Joyland have been able to showcase our films to the world.”

About his role, Gulshan said he wanted to humanise the character, but did not want to portray them as just a trans-person in a clichéd manner, without an identity of their own.

Bakhtawar, who plays the role of the mother, said her character was that of an unconventional mother, far more nuanced than the stereotypes created over the years. “The character is not in black and white, but grey, and that’s the reality of every woman,” she asserts.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2023