Ramchand Pakistani
Ramchand Pakistani is derived from a true story concerning the accidental crossing of the Pakistan-Indian border during a period of extreme, war-like tension between the two countries by two members of a Pakistani Hindu family belonging to the 'untouchable' caste, and the extraordinary consequences of this unintended action upon the lives of a woman, a man, and their son.
The singular theme of the film is how a child from Pakistan aged eight years learns to cope with the trauma of forced separation from his mother while being held prisoner, along with his father in the jail of a country i.e. India, which is hostile to his own, while on the other side of the border, the wife-mother, devastated by their sudden disappearance builds a new chapter of her life, by her solitary struggle for sheer survival.
The film portrays the lives of a family that is at the bottom of a discriminatory religious ladder and an insensitive social system, which is nevertheless tolerant, inclusive and pluralist. The irony is compounded by the fact that such a family becomes hostage to the acrimonious political relationship between two neighbor-states poised on the brink of war.
Ramchand Pakistani is the directorial debut for Pakistani Lady, Mehreen Jabbar, who has directed many award winning television plays in
The film has already become a widely talked about film both nations as this gutsy film was selected for the narrative section of the Tribeca Film Festival 2008, New York and was also screened at the Seattle International Film Festival, June 2008 and won rave reviews. Ramchand Pakistani was also screened at 10th The Osian Film Festival, New Delhi this July and has also been selected for the Rhode August 2008 Island International Film Festival., USA
The film directed by young Pakistani women Film-Maker, Mehreen Jabbar, stars India's most critically acclaimed actress Nandita Das, along side Pakistani actors like Rashid Farooqui, Noman Ijaz, Maria Wasti, Navaid Jabbar and little boy Syed Fazal Hussain. The film will open in Indian Cinemas this August 22.