Dukhtar (Daughter) - film review

Had an opportunity to go see the US premiere of a Pakistani film (Hindi with English Subtitles) at the Castro theater in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco.

Film is titled Dukhtar (urdu for daughter) and is about a rescue organized by a mother who cannot foresee being a silent part of a criminal undertaking where her underage daughter would be wed in an arranged marriage to a local warlord.

The Castro district (so labeled to remember a one time Mexican Governer of Alta CA) as it is called is a colorful community with a lot of non-straight individuals calling it home. Wonderfully located on a hill slope rising in the middle of the 50 sq. mile city limits, I was also able to do a short hike up said hill (twin peaks) which I shall write about in another blog.

The theater almost a 100 years old is reminiscent of the old days of movie watching. It has still retained some of its patina, glazed tile street foyer

Castro Entry

and old carpeting as well as the fixtures in the men's toilets or so it seemed. All in all a gay atmosphere in and around the building and I truly mean it.

The movie is a directorial debut for a US based woman director called Afia Nathaniel who stayed for some Q and A after the screening. It was refreshing to see her tackle a delicate subject such as child brides and terrorism with a finesse that I have seen in India's great directors like Nihalani or Gulzaar.

A sciene and technology student I suspect Afia is an accidental movie director but the pragmatic approach to story telling shows. Shot with some quality cameras on the Karakoram Highway and surrounds including some location photography in mountain villages, the chase and the love story unwind hand in hand...a good watch.

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