Writer and Director: Zarrar Kahn
“This isn’t a Bollywood film” may be one of the most irrefutable statements ever made by a Karachi police
officer. It’s a line from Zarrar Khan’s film In Flames and refers to a couple sitting too closely on a bench, but it’s
equally true of the film, which, to satisfy Pakistani censorship criteria, is billed as a horror movie. Kalaisan
Kalachelvan’s unsettling music creates the illusion, but it’s a disturbingly realistic story.
Mariam’s grandfather has died, leaving her, together with her long-widowed mother Fariha and schoolboy
brother Bilal, prey to all the risks faced by women in a heavily patriarchal society. They find themselves under
the specious protection of a greedy uncle. There is a constant threat of sexual harassment. After a romance
ends in tragedy, Mariam is overwhelmed by grief and guilt. Both women having mistakenly trusted
unscrupulous men, rescue and eventually empower each other. The flames of the title happen near the end,
in a cathartic scene reminiscent of Goodbye Earl.
This is so much a film about women that it’s a surprise to find it was written, directed and designed by a man. Zarrar Kahn is unflinching in his portrayal of a woman’s predicament in what the too- expensive lawyer describes as “the legal and cultural system” of Pakistan. The film features two strong female protagonists, one or other of whom is almost always on the screen. In one scene, two men are talking but they are dark silhouettes framing a shot of Mariam in the street. Mariam is confident and assertive. As the District Commissioner’s granddaughter she boldly demands respect from the police. She is a determined medical student, not married at twenty-five because she wants to finish her studies.
Ramesha Nawal, who plays her, moves with deliberate grace. Her face is often solemn, but can, in rare moments of happiness, break into a delighted smile. Fariha, played precisely by Bakhtawer Mazhar, at first seems the more vulnerable of the two. She ignores her daughter’s warnings about “sleazy” Uncle Nasir and resorts to desperate measures to try to get help from the lawyer. In the third part of the film she comes into focus. She has wisdom of her own , and has understanding and sympathy for her independent daughter. ‘Let me be a mother’ she tells her, and then, extravagantly, “I promise I will fix everything.” But when she senses her daughter is in danger she springs into action, becoming a fast-driving, fire-raising heroine.
“Mariam, not everyone in this world is untrustworthy,” says Fariha. In this film, most men are. We see a parade of crooks, bullies and sexual predators. The only potentially reliable men are dead. Bilal, who is suddenly supposed to be “the man of the house,” has sensibly, being probably not more than twelve, opted out. In nearly every scene where he appears he is on his phone. The most decent man is the lawyer who is at least frank about charging hefty fees.
Visually, In Flames is so stylised it sometimes seems more pattern than picture. Cinematographer Aigul Nurbulatova often frames scenes as squares or rectangles surrounded by black, so they appear, unnaturalistically, like miniature paintings . Straight lines, mostly vertical, are in nearly every scene. In one strikingly effective example, Mariam sits by a window, surrounded one side by the narrow rails that are typical window guards in the city, and on the other by a birdcage with a dove in it. Colour is used carefully. Outdoor scenes are pale; the interior of the family’s apartment mostly a warmly lit red with contrasting green.
Fariha mostly wears dark red or green; Mariam usually dresses in the colours of sugared almonds. There is a brief idyllic scene in a playground, where a carefree Mariam, in apple green, sits on a swing and her boyfriend Asad, in a pink T shirt, lies on the grass. Every image seems to have meaning. This one is a glimpse of happiness that cannot last.
The film just about qualifies as horror because there is a supernatural element: a couple of ghosts, seen only by the women. There are what seem to be dreams and sometimes memories. These are not clearly signalled, perhaps intentionally to create uncertainty, but it is confusing – especially in a scene near the end where Fariha seems to be in two places at once. On the whole it is a believable real-life story , and horror it depicts is perpetrated by human beings.
InFlamesisincinemas 24 May.
The Reviews Hub Score:
Catching fire
