Khamosh Pani(Silent Water)

Entertainment Showbiz Pakistan , Bollywood & World Entertainment
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Kirron Kher in Khamosh Pani(Silent Water)

Woohoo…Pakistani film took the honors! In a competition of 16 films from 19 different countries, it was Silent Water(Khamosh Pani) from Pakistan that beats all of them, won the ‘Best Film’ award!

The best actress award also goes to Khamosh Pani, played by an Indian actress Kirron Kher, wife of Anupam Kher. Besides Kirron Kher, Aamir Malik, Arshad Mahmud and Salman Shahid are the leading cast of the film, which is originally made in Urdu language, 1 hr & 45 minutes long. It is a co-production of Pakistan, France and Germany.

The story is about a woman(Kirron Kher) who struggles with her life in a small village of Punjab, Pakistan and it goes on more wider on the political development of Pakistan(2 decades) but it particularly focus on the ruling term of former President Zia-ul-Haq.

It’s good to see woman from Pakistan and India worked together and acheieved a milestone at an International level. :k:

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**Pakistani director, Sabiha Sumar, lifts the Golden Leopard award she received for her film “Khamosh Pani(Slient Water)” **

Pakistani film takes top honours at Locarno

“Khamosh Pani” (Silent Water) by the Pakistani director, Sabiha Sumar, has won this year’s Golden Leopard for best film at the Locarno festival. :k:

Switzerland also celebrated success, with “iXième, Journal d’un Prisonnier” sharing top prize in the best video category.

**The 56th Locarno film festival reached its climax on Saturday with an awards ceremony on the Piazza Grande and resounding applause for Sumar’s movie – her debut feature film.

“This is the first film of its kind to be entirely made in Pakistan,” Sumar said after scooping her award. “It’s a miracle of a film, it really is.”**

One of Locarno’s strengths is the emphasis it places on providing a platform for young talent, and the winning director maintains the festival definitely lived up to its tradition of giving new directors much-needed international exposure.

“Locarno gives us the opportunity to show our work and to discuss it and for it to go places from here,” she told swissinfo.

**“It’s really a starting point for a film, and the measure of success is how the film is received here, so I think it’s a good springboard to take off into the world,” she added.

Sumar’s sensitive tale of the fate of a woman and the political developments in Pakistan over the last 20 years beat off some strong rivals in a competition that included 19 films from 17 different countries.**

Most notable among them was the critically acclaimed “Maria” from Romania, which received standing ovations during its screenings.

The Calin Netzer-directed film won the jury’s special prize.

Another popular choice, the Bosnian film “Gori Vatra” (Burning Fire) picked up a Silver Leopard as did “Thirteen” from the United States.

THE WINNERS

  • Best film: “Khamosh Pani” (Silent Water), Pakistan.

  • Best actor: Serban Ionescu, “Maria”, Romania.

  • Best actress – Joint winners: Kirron Kher, “Khamosh Pani", Diana Dumbraya, “Maria”, Holly Hunter, “Thirteen”, USA.

  • Best Video - Joint winners: “iXème, Journal d’un Prisonnier ”, Switzerland, “Cantato de las Cosas Solas”, Argentina.

  • Public Prize for best film shown at the Piazza Grande: “Das Wunder von Bern”, Germany

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:jhanda: way to go. I’ve already read the news on BBC.

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:eek: Kirron Kher is a wife of Anupam Kher. wow, didn’t know that! tthanks for the info!

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Kiron Kher wins best actress award at Locarno

India’s Kiron Kher has won the best actress award at the Locarno film festival in Switzerland for her role in a Pakistani director’s film.

Kher won for her performance in “Khamosh Pani”, a German-French-Pakistani co-production directed by Pakistani woman director Sabeeha Sumar.

“What really thrilled me was that I share the best actress award with Holly Hunter, who’s one of Hollywood’s best,” Kher said on telephone from Locarno.

"When my name was announced I wanted them to play the Indian national anthem as they do at the Olympics. It’s a wonderful feeling. And would you believe it, I wasn’t even supposed to be in Locarno!

"The producers of ‘Khamosh Pani’ wanted me to be in Locarno, but I had begged off saying I had to get back to Mumbai. However, when the schedule in Mumbai was off I immediately flew off from London to Locarno. The entire unit of ‘Khamosh Pani’ flew to Locarno. "

Besides winning Kiron Kher the top acting prize, the film has also won the top-most award at the Locarno festival: the Golden Leopard. Kiran had zipped off to Pakistan last year to shoot for “Khamosh Pani”.

“Since there were no direct flights to Pakistan I flew from Mumbai to Dubai, and from there into Islamabad and then by car.”

The film was shot in Vah village, 130 km from Peshawar.

**"I play the protagonist, Veero, or Ayesha, who lives in Pakistan and has an 18-year-old son. The period when the film unfolds is 1971. The Islamisation of Pakistan started vigorously. I play a Sikh woman who at age 16 is left behind in Pakistan during the riots, but refuses to jump into the well and kill herself.

"Instead she marries one of her abductors and settles down in Pakistan. Later when the borders between the two countries are unsealed, Veero, now called Ayesha, runs into her brother who comes to Pakistan looking for his lost sister.

"What I found extremely interesting about this character was that it addressed itself to questions of women’s empowerment. In Third World countries all the choices for a woman are made by the men in their lives.

Veero’s father wants her to jump into a well, her brother wants her to return to India, her son wants her to renounce the Sikh religion because he’s turning into an Islamic fundamentalist.

My character is a Sufi. I love the way she explains the Quran. To her, reading the Quran five times a day isn’t a mandatory means of going to heaven. Her rationale is, Allah is merciful and only the good will go to heaven. It’s a very real film shot on authentic locations in Pakistan. I wore simple ethnic clothes kept my hair open."

“The director has earlier made some wonderful issue-based documentaries about women’s rights.”** :k: :k: :k:

Kiron sees her presence in the film as a step forward in improving India-Pakistan relations.

"I don’t think artistes should be confined to political borders. We should be free to work wherever we want. ‘Khamosh Pani’ is such an important film.

It’s an anti-fundamentalist film shot in a fundamentalist state. I feel that like charity, peace should also begin at home."

Kher missed out on all the popular and national awards in India for her performance in “Devdas”.

“As for ‘Khamosh Pani’, I hope people in India get to see it. The director, Sabeeha Sumar, is married to a Sri Lankan and lives in Delhi with her husband. Her husband is the film’s co-producer. She commutes between India and Pakistan.”

Kher returns to India on August 27. “I hope I’ve made my country proud,” she laughs.

:slight_smile:

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Ms Sumar’s film is about a mother’s relationship with her extremist son

Swiss honour Pakistani movie

**Pakistani director Sabiha Sumar has won the top prize at this year’s Locarno International Film Festival for her film Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters). **

The Swiss festival’s jury awarded the Golden Leopard prize to Ms Sumar’s film on Saturday.

**The film is about a woman’s relationship with her son who turns to religious extremism after Pakistan became an Islamic state in 1979. **

The jury’s special prize went to Romania’s Calin Netzer for the film Maria, while Serban Ionescu won best actor for his role in the same film.

The Romanian film tells the story of a mother of seven who turns to prostitution to try and support her family.

  • **Three-way split **

The Bosnian film Gali Vatra (Fire!), directed by Pjer Zalica, and the US entrant Thirteen won second and third prize.

For the first time in the festival’s history the best actress award was split between three competitors.

Holly Hunter (Thirteen), Diana Dumbrava (Maria) and Kirron Kher (Khamosh Pani) all shared the award.

Nineteen films from 16 countries competed for the award at the festival

The 56th Locarno festival attracted several premières this year, including British film Calendar Girls, which was show to a record audience of nearly 10,000 people in the town’s Piaza Grande on 9 August.

The festival this year awarded an honorary prize to left-wing British director Ken Loach.

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**Talented stage and film actress Kirron Kher has won the Leopard best actress award for the Pakistani film Khamosh Pani at the 56th Locarno Film Festival. **

Khamosh Pani, a labour of love

Khamosh Pani (Silent Water) won top honours at the 56th Locarno Film Festival.

**“This is a truly international film. Sabiha Sumar, the director and all other actors were Pakistani, while the crew was a mix of French and German. One of the co-producers, who is also Sabiha’s husband, is Sri Lankan and I was the Indian. The film is a labour of love by people of different nationalities who fought against amazing odds to complete the film,” said an elated Kirron Kher, from London.

While Kirron won the Silver Leopard for her performance in the movie, the 42-year-old director won the Golden Leopard.**

Kirron almost didn’t make it to the festival. “I was to shoot for Coffee, a film, and another TV serial in Mumbai, but those got cancelled. I came to London to be with (husband) Anupam, who’s shooting for Bride and Prejudice.”

She finally decided to hop across to Locarno to be with the crew “at almost the last moment… When we got to know that we’d won, we spent an hour screaming and shouting. **The film is very powerful, in terms of its content and emotions. But there’s no technical wizardry. **It was a little tough to believe that an eminent jury, with members like David Robbins, Stefania RoccaI and Jean-Luc Bideau, chose Khamosh Pani for the honours, specially because this is Sabiha’s first feature film,” Kirron said.

**Set in 1979, when Pakistan was under Gen Zia-ul-Haq’s martial law, Khamosh Pani is a story of a widow and her son, as the young man veers towards religious extremism.

“Sabiha got in touch with me through some common friends in Delhi. I totally loved the script,” said Kirron. Another factor that made her sign the film was a chance to shoot in Pakistan. “We shot in villages near Rawalpindi and Islamabad and it was absolutely incredible.” **

She had a personal reason for wanting to visit Pakistan. “My mother is originally from Lalpur, in Pakistan. I wanted to meet one of her closest friends, Suraiya aunty, who was dying of cancer.”

The film was shot early last year when tensions between the two countries were soaring, but Kirron did not face any animosity. “People were very warm. It was like being in Punjab. The ordinary Pakistani is worried about the same things we worry about - inflation and lack of job opportunities.”

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good job PT..good stuff
lets hope pakistani movies can improve now

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Thanks PT for the info :)

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Kirron Kher bagged the Best Actress Award for Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters) at the 56th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland on Saturday. Kirron Kher had to share the Leopard Award with Romanian actress Diana Dumbrava who was also declared the Best Actress for her performance in Maria. Khamosh Pani is Pakistani-French-German co-production scripted by Paromita Vora, an Indian writer and is directed by Sabiha Sumar, a Pakistani. It tells the story of Punjabis left behind during the riots in 1947. Kirron Kher plays a desolate woman who is kidnapped and whose brother comes looking for her. It is also about her relationship with her son who turns a fundamentalist. **“It was imperative for me to do this film because it made an anti-fundamentalist statement from a fundamentalist country, **” Kirron Kher said.

:mad: ;mad2: :mad3: so wat if pakistan is a fundamentalist country, there is nothing wrong with that!!! atleast we or some of us believe in old and traditional forms of religion, wats wrong with that as long as we abide by wat’s written and said..

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:flower1: Easy to say that if you are a male. Not so easy for the Pakistani women who have to bear the brunt of suffering.

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Take it down a notch, yara :slight_smile:

Pakistan is not a fundamentalist country, it has some fundamentalist people. If you look at pure Islam, it does not call for the oppression of women…it is the evil culture of domineering masculinity that is responsible for such ills.

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More on this first Punjabi film to win an international award.

Film's original title was Veero and was shot in a place called Wah - a small village close to Gurudwara Punja Saheb in the Pothohar region. The confusion is caused by the new title Khamosh Pani which sounds a lot closer to Urdu than Punjabi. The director of the film, Ms Sabiha Sumar, is a Sindhi lady from Karachi married to a Tamilian Hindu Brahmin from Sri Lanka.

The narrative is woven around a woman, Veero, from a village called Charkhi where Sikh women had jumped into a well at the time of the 1947 partition of the sun-continent. One woman, Veero, however refused to jump and tearing herself ran away to stay back in the village as Ayesha.

The script of the film takes off from the late Bhisham Sahni's Tamas initially but develops into a very different story eventually. It deals with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan in the aftermath of Bhutto's assassination and the irresistible rise of Gen Zia-ul-Haq. It was developed jointly by Sabiha Sumar and the Mumbai based*Ms Paromita Vohra* - a feminist filmmaker -whose family migrated to Delhi from Lahore in 1947.

The music of the film was mostly done by Madan Gopal Singh but there is one song from an old Pakistani film which Arshad Mehmood rerecorded. Arjun Sengupta - a Delhi based music arranger - helped polish the background score. Voices of Shri LK Pandit of the Gwalior gharana and his highly talented daughter, Ms Mita Pandit; of Madan Gopal Singh; of Rekha Raj; and, Bhai Baldeep Singh were used in the film.

The performers from India included Kiron Kher of Mumbai-Chandigarh who also won the Best Actress for the film; Navtej Johar whose parents migrated from Rawalpindi; Shilpa, who is a Delhi based actress from Bihar and can barely speak Punjabi (and it shows in the film) and Madan Gopal Singh.

This is absolutely the first Punjabi film to win such a big Inernation Award and that in the Best Film category. This is something historic.

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Movie Veeru/Khamosh Pani was recorded in Urdu

p.s. Duh! :stuck_out_tongue:

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Movie Stills

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does this film diss muslims?

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Re: Khamosh Pani(Silent Water)

I find this film very well made. It shows the problem of manipulating emotions for political interests by misusing relegious feelings and personal economic background.
But nevertheless the songs made for this films were mostly cut off.
These songs are as well in Urdu as well in Punjabi.

I like these songs but I cannot understand tehm all because of lacking the written down lyrics.
So if you can advice where to get these lyrics from I'd be very obliged.

I'm looking for:

"Alif Allah" lyrics
Written by Sultan Bahu

Performed by Madan Gopal Singh (voc), Ajay Prasanna (fl)

"Sayyoni" lyrics
Written by Madan Gopal Singh (voc)

Performed by Madan Gopal Singh (voc), Bele Malik (harp), Deepak Castelino (g)

"Meree Alard Jawani" lyrics
Written by Arshad Mahmud

Performed by Arshad Mahmud, Khurshid Shahid, Shazim Ashraf, Arshad Mahmud (voc)

"Sanu Nehar Walay Pul" lyrics
Written by Salim and Iqbal, arr. by Arshad Mahmud

Performed by Arshad Ali (Dholak)

"Main veer Jaana" lyrics
Written by Shah Hussain, adapted by Pathanna Khan

Performed by Madan Gopal Singh and Rekha Raj

"Kithay Gayaan Mavaan" lyrics

Traditional

"Heer" lyrics
Traditional, arr. by Madan Gopal Singh

Performed by Madan Gopal Singh (voc)

"Madhaaniaan" 2:32 lyrics

Performed by Rekha Raj (Tabla)

"Ranjha jogi ra ban aaye" lyrics
Written by Madan Gopal Singh
Performed by Madan Gopal Singh (voc)

Regards,

Ernst Tremel