Talking to Sabiha Sumar about Khamosh Pani

badi sohni filam banai kurriye!

filam ki ey, sheesha ey sheesha!

rab tainoon tuti hava na laey!

I am privileged to be the person who saw the very first show of this admirable movie at Wah Village. I am a resident of the said village and the success of this movie has not only put me in exaltation but to my surprise, I was wondered how an eye of the camera has captured the scenic sites of my village.

The glimpse of a huge building was actually the Haveli (House) shown in the picture was build in four long years (1872-75) by my great grand father, Hayat Khan and is named as “Mari” where the Mosque mainly shown in the film was also built by him. The river evident in the movie is named as “Dhamra River” which is not as beautiful as shown in the movie these days since the river usually running a sickly orange with wastage of chemicals spilling in by the ordinance factory located near by and white powder drains into it from an adjacent marble works. It was once a beautiful river by early eighties when my father used to catch the famous “Masher” fish, which are, now near to extinct in the river due to this pollution.

The Wah village is also famous for its ancient mughal heritage specially the famous beautiful mughal gardens of Wah, once a major campsite of Mughal rulers, the gardens were developed with magnificent trees and water channels by successive Mughal emperors. Tapering cypress trees, loved by the Mughals, line the canals through which cool waters once flowed between elegant Romanic pavilions and cascading into large reflecting basins. The gardens are being restored to their original beauty, by the Department of Archaeology, Govt. of Pakistan. Entry fee is Pak Rs.4 per person.

The crystal clear water stream running near by the mosque as shown in the movie is basically coming from these ponds located in the Wah Gardens where the water is gushing out from the natural springs and is hygienically very safe and potable.

You can get the details of Wah Gardens in the below mentioned link with the few pictures under the caption of “External Link” in wikipedia’s link.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wah%2C_Pakistan

• http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden_tour/mughal-gardens-india/bagh-iwahgardenpakistan.htm

• http://www.heritage.gov.pk/html_Pages/gardens.html

without doubt one of the finest and best made movies that i have seen. its different than conventional movies in a way that it depicts the true picture. i wasnt born at the time.... but my father...... who saw the time in a very similar village in punjab says that the film could not have been any closer to reality.

the film setting is pretty much the same as it was and still is for a majority of the punjab. a small village, most of the people in the same economic bracket, and the a few people like the village chaudhary.

apart from that, the characters are very well defined, unlike the classic sterio-types, which show the evil as the devil himself and the rightous as angels. the characters are what u will find all over the villages in punjab. overall an excellent movie.

and snake(#6), yes the dvd that i have has english subtitles.

Indian Movies Suck. Period. Stupidity at its peak.

I agree with Ras, the best Punjabi film that I have ever seen(it does have subtitles), it makes me proud of my punjabi heritage and it opens a new ground for renconcilling with partition through language and collaborative film-making. It is great to know that Sabiha actually learned Punjabi to do this film. I watched it at my (penn State) universty screenings and people were asking me whether it is a true story? O yes, I said, telling them about references to Urvashi Butalia and Ritu Menon`s recent partition-oral histories. I am also reminded of Manto`s stories, specially the shock value of it and still being subtle at the same time so it remains with you for a long time.

does this film have english subtitles?

saw the film at the kara film fest in khi. cried. the part where ayesha plunges into the well is pure genius. how it connects everything and talks abt destiny and the importance of how one dies to how one lived. cant wait for the film abt the khi girl.

Certainly the best Punjabi movie I have ever seen, and amongst

the best films that South Asians have ever made.

Low budget, simple, yet one that sent an incredibly strong message.

A late ``Congratulations`` once again to Sabiha Sumar for making all of

us Pakistanis proud by winning that Golden Leopard.

Ras

The movie was absolutely beautiful. With such strong characters, such sensitivity, such good acting.

Its rather sad that a Romanian friend was the first to tell me about it. Most of my Desi friends were talking about Veer Zara. Kudos to Sabahi for breaking all the barriers.

Also, even though I am Urdu speaking, I loved the Punjabi dialogue. I don`t think Urdu would have worked that well for the movie.

ASA

A friend of mine in Canada from this area saw the film and praised it very much, especially due to its language. So I checked up with all the major vidio centres in Islamabad, even the Radio City, to get the film, but failed. I tried to download it from the internet but failed either.
Please let me know how can I see this film in Pakistan?

seen the film many times, its really fab, you should all watch it, if you get a chance.

I`m glad it ws done in Punjabi, it lends a credible reality to the film, cause no one in the villages speaks in Urdu. I hope ppl realise that serious filmi art can be done in Punjabi without it looking like the lollywood style crass, that we see all the time.

Good on her!

Jeendi reh!