Even though it took over ten years to come about from her short film, director Fawzia Mirza delivered her a tale from her life story onscreen about her time as a queer individual.
The plot follows young aspiring actor Azra (Amrit Kaur), who has a cumbersome relationship with her conservative, traditionalist mother, Mariam (Nimra Bucha). While both have a great attachment to a film called “Aradhana,” it remains evident that Azra cannot heed Mariam’s maternal struggles. A fatal heart attack strikes Azra’s father Hassan (Hamza Haq), and Azra must reunite with her mother and the family in Pakistan while salvaging this tumultuous relationship she has with her remaining parent.
Mirza imbues the atmosphere with flamboyant colors and familial values, yet aspires with too much of a boisterous energy that disjoints the film. You see, it does the whippan effect to the sound of a camera that sends us on a Bollywood-inspired tale of how Mariam’s rebellious youth came about, along with Azra’s childhood in the rural parts of Canada. The young Mariam radically differs from the one we encounter in 1999 – drinking, dancing, and flirting throughout her life while meeting Hassan. Then we learn about young Azra’s rising childhood that taps into her sensuality more in the second half, which ties the knots for how the divisions came.
The time-jumping narrative, which is heavily prevalent, gets slightly jarring sometimes. One moment, we’re watching the mother and daughter bicker over clothing in preparation for the funeral, before jumping back in time to watch Mariam’s blossoming relationship with Hassan, while splicing in atmospheric wide shots to show the vivid colors of the country. And concomitantly, it takes away from Azra and Mariam’s moments together to witness the traditionalist vs. progressive attitudes.
With all that said, both grace the screen with electric commitment to their roles, with Kaur dominating with a spiky livewire rebellion. At the same time, Bucha remains a treat to watch, much like in her “Ms. Marvel” and “Polite Society” roles. It’s a feature that wants us to understand how misunderstanding (and misjudging) a young one can hurt our relationships with one another; we’re more than creatures designed to love; we contain quiddities and values that make us complex beings attempting to establish our purpose, our livelihood. And the music plays a significant part in keeping the film afloat.
Even with the fragmentation in the film’s plot and structuring, Fawzia Mirza’s personal link to this tale keeps it magnetic and vibrant thanks to some well-utilized color and music.
See trailer below:
