Khamosh Pani

All you want to know about Khamosh Pani

For the Amorphis album, see Silent Waters (album).

Khamosh Pani (Urdu: خاموش پانی; Hindi: खामोश पानी; lit. Silent Waters) is a 2003 French/German production about a widowed mother and her young son set in a late 1970s village in Punjab, Pakistan which is coming under radical influence.

The film was released in India too. It was shot in a village in Pakistan and won 7 awards.

Plot

Ayesha is a seemingly well-adjusted middle-aged woman whose life centres around her son Saleem -a gentle, dreamy 18-year-old, in love with Zubeida. They live in the village of Charkhi in Punjab, Pakistan. Ayesha's husband is dead and she manages a living from his pension and by giving Qur'an lessons to young girls. The story begins in 1979, in a Pakistan under President General Zia-ul-Haq's martial law. Zia-ul-Haq manipulated the interpretation of Islam and misguided a whole generation of uneducated young people. These radicalized young people were needed at that time to fight the Soviets, who had occupied neighbouring Afghanistan. Saleem becomes intensely involved with a group of Islamic fundamentalists and leaves Zubeida. Ayesha is saddened to see her son change radically.

Events escalate when Sikh pilgrims from India arrive in the village. Later, a pilgrim looks for his sister Veero who was left behind in 1947 during the Partition of India. This awakens heart-rending memories. This movie basically shows the consequences of a corrupt dictator on the future of a nation.