Juggun Kazim and Omair Rana’s latest offing – Khirki – is a short film which depicts the harrowing tale of domestic violence. It touches upon social issues prevailing in our society which are often swept under the carpet or at times considered to be norms.
Juggun Kazim plays a suppressed and scared housewife who is tired of her household responsibilities and gets a beating for raising her voice. Omair Rana plays an abusive husband and father who will accept nothing less than a first position in exam from his son Rayan (played by Shahzain Ali). He constantly reminds his son that he has to become a doctor. At one instance he tells his son that if this time he secures second position, he will hand him over to a carpenter. Later, when Rayan writes an incorrect table of 2 in his math’s homework, his father takes him outside and paints his face black.
We also witness the helplessness of Juggun as a wife and a mother. She cannot give her son a birthday gift by saving money from groceries as her husband views it as ‘stealing’. Omair Rana’s menacing portrayal is intimidating; at one instance he asks his wife why she has stopped blabbering as he says ‘Mujhey khamoshi se nafrat ha [I hate silence]’ and then the next moment he tells his wife ‘Mujhey shor se nafrat ha [I hate noise]’. He also beats his wife when his child refuses to obey him. In short, he is a control freak in disguise of a caretaker of the family.
Director Fahad Nur has expertly muted all the cries and wails of the harassed mother with deafening beeps. The scene where the child commits a suicide in a dream sequence instantly grabs your attention. Kudos to the director for a sensitive portrayal of a disturbing issue; he has entirely avoided picturization of beating of a wife or a dead body of a child and skillfully captured the essence with subliminal imagery; the white dupatta falling off and covering the body is a tear jerking scene.
There is a clock ticking constantly as a background score hinting towards a ticking bomb. Cases of domestic violence are indeed like a time bomb as they have adverse effects on children and their psychology. Hence, Juggun dreams that one day his son will commit suicide succumbing to the immense pressure at home.
Khirki is a true depiction of what happens in many households in our society where men are treated as a demigod and women as subservient beings, consequently inflicting emotional and mental trauma on children.
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