Daag touches on a sensitive issue

Daag, the new collaborative project between Pakistan and India, is said to be a film that will deal with the sensitive and stigmatised issue of rape. It is a joint venture between Humayun Saeed and Bollywood veteran Mahesh Bhatt. Saeed told The Express Tribune that “the story is based on a real life incident.”

He said that the movie is a shared project between the two countries and has “an initial budget of INR3.5 million, which is approximately Rs7 million.” The film is scheduled to be shot either in October or November of this year in Karachi and Lahore.

Saeed hopes that Juggan Kazim will take on the lead role, but as of yet this is not confirmed as “talks are still on with the actor”.

Because it is a collaborative project, there are security concerns about the film, which is why Saeed is reluctant to share information about the film’s cast, nor is he holding any press conferences. However, he did say that five Indians are going to take on roles behind the camera. This includes Daag’s scriptwriter Shagufta Rafique, action director Parvez, music director Raju Singh, composer Sandesh Shandilya, who gained fame with the song “Suraj Hua Madham” from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Ghum, and lastly choreography will be in the hands of Pony Verma.

The exact date of the film’s release is not yet known. “I am not sure about the international release of the film, it might release simultaneously,” Saeed said.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Rafique sounded very excited about the film and said, “I have always felt that cinema has not done justice with the topic of rape. We end up making films on terrorists and comedians, but we don’t deal with this issue.”

Rafique researched the subject before penning the script and is keen to direct the film, “A rape victim has never been projected the way she should have been, and her story has never been fully author-backed. (No one writes about) the aftermath of rape and how the victim begins to view life, how people begin to look at her and behave with her, especially in India and Pakistan. She is often not forgiven for a crime she has never committed.”

Rafique said “I’m not sure they can brave it out until the world begins to see them as victims rather than as sinners. India and Pakistan, and all other nations where there are a large number of rape cases, need to wake up to one reality, which is that women need to be protected from becoming victims of rape and victims of ridicule and humiliation after it happens to them.”

Rafique is confident about the movie, “I’m very positive about my film doing well in both India and Pakistan because the intention with which I’m making this film is to reach out to victims of the world (who suffer from this) cruel, heartless and shameful crime. I think it is high time we all did something about it.”

While the cast has not been finalised, it has been decided that Humayun Saeed will be playing the male lead. Rafique is happy to be working on this project with him.

“I think Humayun is a very handsome and very talented actor. I’m quite thrilled about working with him. I have had the privilege of working with him in an earlier film which I had written and it was a fantastic experience. He is a director’s actor and I’m really looking forward to direct him in Daag,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2010.