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Indus Echoes is a film about the lonely and empty feeling of nothingness. It doesn’t tell anyone’s tale, per se, instead it shows you a tiny glimpse into the lives of people living along the banks of the Indus River, each of them tired and wanting more. But, it’s also a film where you get to decide what it’s about.

Directed by newcomer Rahul Aijaz, the film is more of the arthouse variety than commercial, shot in a square format and coloured in almost black and white. Indus Echoes is also touted as the first Sindhi-language film to be released in Pakistan in 30 years.

Described by its makers as an “omnibus drama revolving around the Indus River”, the film, a first-ever coproduction between Pakistan, Bangladesh and South Korea, had its international premiere at the Jaipur International Film Festival on January 21.

That makes sense, because Indus Echoes is undoubtedly a festival film. Its subtleties may fly over the heads of the average cinema-goer, especially given its propensity towards lengthy shots of water flowing or wheat swaying in the wind which may seem needless at first but on further reflection, are quite in keeping with my understanding of the theme of the film.

To me, the film’s beauty lies in its colouring which is almost but not quite black and white. The shades of grey that colour the film’s visuals also colour your perception of the characters. Not everything is black and white. But then again, to me, everything is open to interpretation in this film.

The colour grading, coupled with the square screen size helps viewers believe they are merely onlookers, as if they’re watching through a window, perhaps of a train or a car, a transient visitor observing people tired of the monotony of their lives yet stuck in an endless cycle of nothingness.

At first glance, it’s peaceful — the soft crashes of the waves on the shore, the shushing of the wheat — but on second, it’s a gentle nothingness that frustrates this nameless group of people.

It’s that nothingness that drives some of these people to murder, the thought of escape and their ties to the water. There’s one line in the film that resonated with me said when a couple finds a body floating in the river — “Let the river take him”, though I do feel it should have been “let the river keep him,” because the ties that bind these nameless people to the river are a running theme in the film.

Two brothers ‘searching’ for the third; a poet and a young woman waiting for someone, a young woman and her lover. Three stories, separate but interconnected. It’s difficult to believe that there were just three actors in the entire film because of how well it was done. What gave it away were blink-and-you’ll-miss-it similarities.

One of the most striking things in the film is the use of sound. It’s heavy on background noise and sound effects in place of actual dialogue. In fact, I would go so far as to call it a film of few words, with the camerawork and long shots doing some heavy lifting when it came to telling the story.

There’s lots of emphasis on movement in Indus Echoes — the camera’s, the characters’, the water’s. There are also many things left unsaid, leaving a lot of room for the viewer’s interpretation. Are the poet and the young woman related? Are they friends or something more? There’s a moment of an almost discomfort, but as you watch the scene you keep wondering whether you are projecting your own emotions onto the characters, because they themselves say little.

Because of this as well as the way the film is shot, the viewer often feels like a voyeur, standing on the banks of the Indus or perhaps even sitting in a car, observing these people but not knowing any of the backstory.

As you watch these people in this serene and scenic setting, you wonder how much peace is too much peace. While we, the third party, think it’s peaceful and lovely, the people living there keep echoing the same refrain — “nothing changes here”.

The brothers seemed tied to it, whether they like it or not; the second pair seem less angsty, but they still yearn for more; the third seem content, but muse about the dangers of the water until the end.

The director described Indus Echoes as a Sindhi film everyone can watch, but I disagree. I believe this is not a movie to watch if you’re in a rush or looking for an action packed film. It may also not be a film for everyone, because it requires a level of concentration that many people won’t want to give but it is one to be watched if you’re looking for an introspective, thoughtful film.

That it is in Sindhi shouldn’t be an impediment. Aijaz spoke about people not wanting to watch Sindhi films and it reminded me of a quote by Bong Joon-Ho, the director of Parasite, the first non-English language film to win Best Picture at the Oscars:

“Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.”

If people overcome that one-inch barrier, they’ll be introduced to a film that is thoughtful and a reflection of people whose stories aren’t often told in our media.

Indus Echoes has been written and directed by Rahul Aijaz. It stars Vajdaan Shah, Ansaar Mahar and Samina Seher, and is produced by Tanveer Hossain and Rahul Aijaz. Actor Shamoon Abbasi, as well as Akhtiar Ali Kalwar, Vajdaan Shah, Zaid Aziz and filmmaker Mohammad Kamran Jawaid serve as executive producers.