Film Into Dust honouring Karachi's real-life hero Perween Rahman is out on Amazon Prime

It highlights the bravery of the social activist who fought for land and water rights for impoverished neighbourhoods.

30 Aug, 2021

Perween Rahman — Karachi's real-life hero who was assassinated in 2013 — has been immortalised in the docudrama film Into Dust on Amazon Prime, directed by Oscar winning filmmaker Orlando von Einsiedel. The film was released on August 24.

The docudrama highlights the brave struggles of Rahman who had devoted her life towards the development of impoverished neighbourhoods across the country before being assassinated in 2013. The architect turned social activist was the head of the Orangi Pilot Project-Research and Training Institute (OPP-RTI).

According to the docudrama's social media accounts, Into Dust tells "the extraordinary true story of Perween Rahman, a Pakistani community advocate who worked tirelessly for Pakistan’s poor".

"Perween Rahman was tragically murdered in 2013 for exposing water and land theft in Pakistan," reads the caption on Instagram.

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The docudrama prominently features the roles of Rahman (played by Indu Sharma) and her sister Aquila Ismail (played by Sudha Bhuchar) amongst others. It focuses particularly on Rahman’s fight for the water rights of underserved communities in Karachi.

The film also lays bare Ismail's struggle to get justice after her sister's murder. The case has been in court for the last eight years. Ismail is the executive director of the drama as well. According to Dawn, Ismail gave the go-ahead on all the creative decisions of the story. “There was nothing that went by without discussing with me,” she said in conversation with Icon.

Ismail had highlighted two imperative things to the filmmaker at the beginning of the project back in 2018. First, there could be “nothing against our country” in the film. She'd emphasised this because Rahman had loved Karachi and Pakistan. Second, since her murder trial was still ongoing, Ismail said there could be nothing in the film that could “jeopardise our case.”

Von Einsiedel also directed the Oscar-winning documentary The White Helmets, which follows three ‘Syria Civil Defence’ volunteers as they work in Aleppo and across Syria. Into Dust was released on Amazon Prime on August 24 and is now available for streaming.

Comments

KK Aug 30, 2021 05:39pm

It’s a story that needs to be told. But it’s disgusting if they don’t use Pakistani actors and crew. Amazon is just being leech.

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well-wisher Aug 30, 2021 06:35pm

JUSTICE is awaited. Watch it on Amazon prime.

Khaled Aug 30, 2021 06:36pm

Great.

Ali Kazmi Aug 30, 2021 06:59pm

Except that it is not available for streaming in Pakistan. Which is somewhat ironic since it is us Pakistanis that need to watch this film and acknowledge one of our own. A true hero.

Cumbersome Aug 31, 2021 02:41am

@Ali Kazmi tell @KK -why it is banned in Pakistan! The problem is that the society has weakened by the Militablishment and mafias over the years. No hope for civility.