- A drama about three stories centered on the effects of extremism and 9/11 on Pakistanis.
- After going through a bitter divorce through a Caucasian wife, U.K.-based Hussain Shah now lives in a common-law relationship with another Caucasian woman. Angered that his daughter, Mary, is dating a Caucasian male, Dave, he counsels her to stop seeing him as it is forbidden for women to marry outside Islam. But when Mary persists, he relents and permits her to marry, provided she travels with him to Lahore, Pakistan, to meet his estranged mother and brother, to which she agrees. Once there, Mary is then taken to a remote area in Afghanistan and forced to marry her cousin, Sarmad Khan, a singing artiste, who has turned conservative after being influenced by Moulana Tahiri. Sarmad's brother, Mansoor, re-locates to Chicago, to enroll for music lessons with Professor Lincoln, meets with Caucasian fellow-student, Janie, and both fall in love with each other. Than the events of 9-11 will result in Mansoor's arrest by the CIA. He is isolated, humiliated, fed pork, tortured endlessly until he reveals his role within Al Qaeda and his association with Usama Bin Laden. He is then lodged in a stinking cell where he proceeds to write 'I LOVE USA' on the walls. Mary in the meantime, with the assistance of other oppressed women, manages to escape, but is captured, taken back, sexually molested by Sarmad, becomes pregnant and gives birth to a girl. While back in the USA, the torture takes a heavy toll on Mansoor, he then changes the writings on the wall to 'I LOVE USAMA', while investigators come across Arabic evidence that he may have been actually involved in the 9-11 attacks.—rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)
- This film is about the difficult situation in which Pakistanis in particular and the Muslims in general are caught up since 9/11. There is a war going on between the Fundamentalists and the Liberal Muslims. This situation is creating a drift not only between the western world and the Muslims but also within the Muslim community. The educated and modern Muslims are in a difficult situation because of their approach towards life and their western attire. They are criticized and harassed by the fundamentalists on the other hand the western world sees them as potential suspects of terrorism just because of their Muslim names.
This paradox is resulting in great suffering for a forward looking Muslim. This is the theme of the film 'Khuda Ke Liay' which in English means "for god's sake!". Since it is meant for the South Asian market, the title was misinterpreted from its original name which was written in the Urdu script.
The interesting thing about this film is how it connects the happenings in three continents, unlike the usual Indian and Pakistani films based on romantic sagas, dances and songs, this film is based on some very serious issues, raising controversial questions engaging Muslim minds these days.
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