Starring Kirron Kher, Aamir Malik.
Written by Sabiha Sumar, Paromita Vohra. Directed by Sabiha Sumar. (14A) 99 min. Opens Nov 12.
Though it takes a while to get going and has amateurish moments, Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters)
is an absorbing story that's as gripping as anything on a nighttime
soap opera with the added, unsettling bonus of being grounded in
historical reality -- and the freaky prescience of paralleling the rise
of fundamentalism in America right now.
The film is set in
Pakistan in 1979, 30 years after the brutal clash between Muslims and
Sikhs saw many women killed by their own families rather than end up
raped by the other side. A few women escaped and married their enemies
in order to survive. (This historical context doesn't come out until
midway through the film, but it's more helpful to know from the start.)
Ayesha
(Kirron Kher) is a liberal Muslim who wants nothing more than for her
handsome, layabout son, Saleem (Aamir Malik), to become a farmer and
settle down with the spunky girl next door, whom he's already romancing
in typical Bollywood, peek-behind-doorways-at-each-other fashion. Into
this idyllic world creep two Islamic fundamentalists. Soon they draw
Saleem into their dark affiliation with General Zia ul-Haq, who's
taking over Pakistan by stoking anti-Sikh sentiment. Meanwhile, Sikhs
who were banished 30 years before are returning to pray at the village
mosque, and one of them knows a secret about Ayesha.
As if these themes weren't roiling enough, first-time filmmaker
Sabiha Sumar sprinkles in retro-feminism. In a delightful bit of role
reversal, when Saleem tells his unapologetically college-bound
girlfriend that he wants a job in the city, she protests, "But loving
me is your job."
Silent Waters runs deep indeed.