“This well acclaimed performance of Maas Foundation followed the story of a young Muslim boy, Akhtar, who gets separated from his mother within Indian side during the partition1947 when her mother after murder of her husband by a mob is migrating from Indian side to Pakistan.
Akhtar is soon found by the story’s other central character, a Sikh man called Parmasherr Singh. Permasher Singh who also migrated from Lahore (Pakistan) to Amritsar (India) with his wife and daughter.
Premier: June 2008
Written By: Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi
Directed By: Aamir Nawaz
This family also lost their son named kartara just like of Akhtir’s age during migration. That’s why Permasher Singh is always sad in remembrance of his lost son. Permasher’s wife advises him to go out with local mob and try to rob some muslim migrants so that they can have some money for house hold at this new place. Permasher Singh reluctantly goes with mob to loot some muslim migrants but suddenly they find Akhtir in a jungle.
Parmasher proceeds to save the boy from that unruly mob, eventually adopting the boy as his own, against the initial reluctance of his wife. Her wife and daughter are so frightened that a muslim boy is in their home. Permasher Singh gets pressure from his family, neighbors and community that if he wants to keep this boy at his home, then either he has to make the boy adopt the ways of the Sikh religion to survive otherwise he has to kill Akhtir. as Parmasher’s character is in contrast to the people around him he somehow succeed to oppose that pressure from his family, friends and community. He encourages Akhtar to recite his lines from the Quran, fights to protect Akhtar’s identity as a Muslim. One day his frightened daughter tried to kill Akhtir as she is very angry on Muslims because when they were in Lahore, Muslim mob molested and raped her friend after announcement of partition. (There was thousands of rape cases occurred on both sides during migration).
Permasher Singh somehow protects Akhtir from his daughter and decided to cross border to take the boy back to his mother, regardless of how close he is to the boy because for him, Akhtir is just like his lost son Kartara. A story of humanity and mankind.
