The real credit for the revival of Pakistani cinema goes to for giving us two blockbusters; Khuda kay liye and Bol and recently Shoaib surprised us Verna, which deals with the issue of sexual abuse and rape.
Recently the director shared his point of view on this matter on social media stating “Rape is one of the most prevalent and ugly forms of crimes against women in Pakistan.”
“Although the women’s movement has tried to grapple with this scourge and worked with the law makers as well as the law enforcing agencies, the mindset of the society remains the biggest challenge that needs to be tackled,” he wrote.
Stating the statistics, Shoaib said, “According to Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, one woman is raped in Pakistan every two hours. Globally Pakistan has been ranked third from the bottom as the most dangerous country for women in the world.”
He went on to write, “A substantive push is needed to show clearly how rape is used as a tool by powerful in the society to humiliate and invoke fear among the vulnerable. All this happens in the context of patriarchy where the bodies of women have become the battle ground for men to fight their battles of honor, power and revenge.”
Talking about the Mahira starrer, “With the thought that a feature film on this sensitive issue can make more impact than years of struggle through smaller interventions on TV or by NGOs, I have made this effort and named it Verna.
“I have chained all my three films together since all deal with women empowerment… ‘Khuda Kay Liye Bol Verna’. I sincerely hope it will not only spark off the process of shifting people’s patriarchal mindsets but will rejuvenate the movement against this crime,” he wrote.
“Most of all I hope that it will at least make women reflect that rape does not rob them of ‘honor’, it is something they earn and no one can snatch it away from them,” added the director.
