Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
Rauf Khalid
Abdul Rauf Khalid ( ur, ; 19 December 1957 in Peshawar – 24 November 2011) was a Pakistani actor, filmmaker and television writer/director.
Early life and career
Rauf Khalid, while he was still a college student, began writing for Radio ...
. The film features
Zara Sheikh
Zara Sheikh (Punjabi, ur, ) is a Pakistani model and actress. Sheikh has acted in films such as ''Tere Pyar Mein'' (2000), ''Salakhain'' (2004) and '' Laaj'' (2003). She won the Nigar Award for Best Actress for her performance in film ''Tere ...
and Imran Khan in lead roles. Film's music is composed by
Amjad Bobby
Amjad Bobby ( Punjabi, ur, ; 1942 15 April 2005) was an acclaimed Pakistani music composer and director.
Early life and career
He was born in Amritsar, British India in 1942. His father wanted him to be a clerk but he preferred to become a ...
The story is set in old India under British rule, in the 1920s. The warring Pathans of the North West region of India had become more aggressive towards the ruling Britain. The Fakir of Ippy was already a living legend before he started a war that was fought over the love of a couple that knew no bounds of religion, cast, color or language.
A wealthy Hindu girl named Ram Kori, using the alias Chand Bibi, runs away from her home with a Pathan boy Noor Ali Khan and meets a mystic Muslim leader called the 'Fakir of Ippy'. The Fakir marries Noor Ali Khan and Ram Kori after she accepts Islam and agrees to be renamed as Noor Jahan.
The influential and rich Hindus of the area go to the British Court run by an English Political Agent involved in both the executive and the judiciary. The agent is, in actuality, against the warring Pathans, and he intends to teach them a lesson. In the court, the political agent decides against the couple's case. Since Noor Jahan had become a Muslim, she was to be tried under Muslim Law, where a girl of fourteen years is adult and can choose her husband. However, according to the political agent's decision, since under the English Law a girl is considered minor till she reaches the age of eighteen, both her acceptance of Islam as well as her marriage are made void.
The Muslim lawyers representing Noor Jahan insisted that the court also decree that the girl will not be taken away from the city
Bannu
Bannu ( ps, بنو, translit=banū ; ur, , translit=bannū̃, ) is a city located on the Kurram River in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the capital of Bannu Division. Bannu's residents are primarily members of the Banuchi tribe ...
, which was granted. However, Noor Jahan was secretly taken away to
Hoshiarpur
Hoshiarpur () is a city and a Municipal corporations in India, municipal corporation in Hoshiarpur district in the Doaba region of the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. It was founded, according to tradition, during the early part of the ...
where the girl's parents lived. Noor Ali Khan, at the behest of the faqir, goes to Hoshiarpur. He exchanges hot words with Noor Jahan's family, resulting in his stabbing a man and then his arrest. He eventually broke out of the jail, picked up Noor Jahan and come back to
Waziristan
Waziristan (Pashto and ur, , "land of the Wazir") is a mountainous region covering the former FATA agencies of North Waziristan and South Waziristan which are now districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Waziristan covers some . ...
area.
The British, after a failed dialogue, attack the village. The Fakir, unhappy with the attack, wages a holy war against the English. Backed by German aid, he starts
Guerilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tac ...
against the British.
Cast
*
Zara Sheikh
Zara Sheikh (Punjabi, ur, ) is a Pakistani model and actress. Sheikh has acted in films such as ''Tere Pyar Mein'' (2000), ''Salakhain'' (2004) and '' Laaj'' (2003). She won the Nigar Award for Best Actress for her performance in film ''Tere ...
Nirma
Nirma is a group of companies based in the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India, that manufactures products ranging from detergents, soaps, cement, cosmetics, salt, soda ash, LAB and injectables. Karsanbhai Patel, an entrepreneur and philanthrop ...
*
Resham
Resham is a Pakistani film and television actress and model.
She made her film debut with ''Jeeva'' in 1995, and was a leading actress of Lollywood during the 1990s. Her notable film credits include ''Jeeva'' (1995), ''Ghunghat'' (1996), ''D ...
Rashid Mehmood
Rashid Mehmood (born 15 August 1987) is a Pakistani field hockey player who plays as a defender for Dutch club Schaerweijde and the Pakistan national team.
* Usman Mughal
* Afshan Quershi
*
Nayyar Ejaz
Nayyar Ejaz (or Nayyar Ijaz) ( ur, نیر اعجاز) is a Pakistani film and television actor. Ejaz has been working in television industry since early 1990s. He is famous for his side roles (villain) ''Kali Das'' in the television serial ''Laag ...
* James Kavaz
*
Pat Kelman
Pat Kelman (b. Patrick Kelly) is a British film distributor, photographer, director, writer and actor. Born in Chelmsford, Essex, he was raised in Cornwall where he now lives after spending 20 years in London. He was trained at the University of Lo ...
* Abdul Mannan as captain
Soundtrack
Awards and recognition
* National Film Awards (film Laaj won 4 awards)
See also
*
List of Urdu-language films
A list of Urdu-language films in year order. The films listed here are mostly from Pakistan along with some Indian Urdu movies. For a full list of Pakistani films which includes Punjabi language and Bengali language films in addition to Urdu se ...