Following hot on the heels of Iram Parveen Bilal's Josh: Independence Through Unity comes another exciting Pakistani thriller, a first-time feature from Afia Nathaniel. Dukhtar (daughter) is a rare chase film that explores honour crimes, tribal courts and a thirst for revenge. It follows the journey of a mother who runs away with her 10-year-old daughter before the child is forcibly married off to an elderly tribal leader. The film is Pakistan's entry in the Academy Award Foreign Language Film category.
Nathaniel, who is 40 and from Quetta, Pakistan, says she was inspired to make the film after hearing a real-life story of a mother from tribal areas who kidnapped her two daughters. Although she heard about the story years ago, she is reluctant to say too much as the mother remains in hiding.
“The real story was very surreal, very different, but the seed for the story was really her courage and her dignity in the face of what happened to her.”
The decision to start with a tribal dispute came about because Asif Khan, who plays the husband in the film, is a well-known Pashtun actor who has first-hand knowledge of tribal courts.
“He has actually sat on a lot of these trials, where these matters of life and death are decided,” says Nathaniel. “It was very organic on our part to create the scene where the father has to reluctantly go for this barter deal with this tribal leader. The actual courts can take days, weeks, or months; we had to distil in into something shorter.”
It was a struggle to get the film onto the screen, with financing being the first barrier to overcome.
“Nobody wanted to invest in Pakistan, least of all the Pakistanis,” says the director. “It was tough. The big problem was that our leads were two unknown actors.”
Watching the film, it’s clear why the director was determined to proceed with her choices. Both actresses – Samiya Mumtaz as the mother and the newcomer Saleha Aref as her daughter – are excellent. Mumtaz, who has worked in television, delivers a performance that mixes fear with stoicism.
The director’s determination was needed, too, when the film finally went into production in 2013 after being kick-started by a grant for Arab films from Norway.
The beautiful landscape that serves as a backdrop to the action, the remote mountainous areas of Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan, which forms part of the disputed Kashmir region, is not exactly an ideal shooting location.
“I was looking at a lot of areas,” says Nathaniel. “When I saw this landscape I knew it was right. For me the landscape is a very important character in the film, it’s in the frame always. So when I saw the desolate mountains, long, long roads and the village itself, that’s where I thought ‘this is where we should make the film.’”
And then the production issues started.
“It was -30°C, which most of the cast were not used to,” she says. “Every day was a surprise – the sheer logistic challenges presented. How do you avoid landslides on the road? What happens when you’ve just left a place where a bomb went off? Your cellphones are not working so you’re living in a bubble.”
There was even a tribal leader who threatened to raise a fatwa if Nathaniel did not stop filming.
It’s all a long way from her first job as a computer scientist, which gave way to film school in 2001.
“I had always wanted to be a writer, so I went into advertising to become an English copywriter and, made ads for Volvo, Nestle, whatever,” says Nathaniel. “I wanted to tell stories in a visual medium. I applied and won a Dean’s fellowship to go to Columbia in New York and that is where I completed a five-year masters programme on filmmaking.”
• Dukhtar screens at Mall of the Emirates 12 on Thursday, December 11, at 9.30pm and at MoE 7 on Friday, December 12, at 5.45pm. For more information, visit www.diff.ae
artslife@thenational.ae
'Shakuntala Devi'
Starring: Vidya Balan, Sanya Malhotra
Director: Anu Menon
Rating: Three out of five stars
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Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
Price, base: Dh1,731,672
Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm
Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
The biog
Born: High Wycombe, England
Favourite vehicle: One with solid axels
Favourite camping spot: Anywhere I can get to.
Favourite road trip: My first trip to Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan. The desert they have over there is different and the language made it a bit more challenging.
Favourite spot in the UAE: Al Dhafra. It’s unique, natural, inaccessible, unspoilt.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Ireland v Denmark: The last two years
Denmark 1-1 Ireland
7/06/19, Euro 2020 qualifier
Denmark 0-0 Ireland
19/11/2018, Nations League
Ireland 0-0 Denmark
13/10/2018, Nations League
Ireland 1 Denmark 5
14/11/2017, World Cup qualifier
Denmark 0-0 Ireland
11/11/2017, World Cup qualifier
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
match details
Wales v Hungary
Cardiff City Stadium, kick-off 11.45pm
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company profile
Company name: Dharma
Date started: 2018
Founders: Charaf El Mansouri, Nisma Benani, Leah Howe
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: TravelTech
Funding stage: Pre-series A
Investors: Convivialite Ventures, BY Partners, Shorooq Partners, L& Ventures, Flat6Labs
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
Sunday's games
All times UAE:
Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace, 4pm
Manchester City v Arsenal, 6.15pm
Everton v Watford, 8.30pm
Chelsea v Manchester United, 8.30pm
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Rest
(Because Music)
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Directed by Sam Mendes
Starring Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays
4.5/5
