Feminist Imaginations of Revenge and Redemption in Pashto Cinema

Abstract

This paper explores the films of one of the most prolific Pakistani female filmmakers and stars, Shehnaz Begum. Belonging to the regional Pashto-language film industry, Shehnaz Begum became a defining presence in the local low-budget film culture in Pakistan during the politically turbulent period of the 1990s and starred in and/or made a variety of genre films including the superhero-horror film, Da Khwar Lasme Spogmay (1997). Her films mostly included strong female leads battling patriarchal violence in rural areas near the Afghan-Pakistan border and these films are marked by often fantastical and spectacular mise-en-scene, special effects, and inventive cinematography. In this paper, I will discuss the ways in which Begum’s film subvert the trope of the victimized and oppressed rural woman in Pakistani cinema who only possesses symbolic value for her male avengers. In Begum’s films, however, female protagonists turn towards militancy and vigilantism to battle patriarchal oppression and to fight their aggressors and, thus, offer incendiary visions of feminist worldmaking. It is, therefore, unsurprising that the film posters of Begum’s film have recently appeared in many feminist marches and protests in Pakistan as her work continues to be rediscovered by newer generations of Pashto women and activists. By offering a feminist reading of her films, this paper will, therefore, make a timely intervention in the field of South Asian feminist studies.