Social media sensation Qandeel Baloch was murdered by her brother in Multan a year ago.
This weekend marks her first death anniversary and filmmaker Saad Khan is trying to remember her for the person she was, with stories about Qandeel's life from the people who were closest to her.
These stories, that have been uploaded on a Facebook page called Qandeel Ki Kahani, are excerpts from interviews conducted by Saad and documentary filmmaker Tazeen Bari with Qandeel's sister and mother and aim to highlight Qandeel's working-class life.
The page reads: “Qandeel Baloch successfully climbed the socio-economic ladder in a country where the class you're born into dictates who you are, what opportunities you'll get, and what you can do. She defied all that and became Pakistan's social media superstar. Rest in power, Qandeel (1990 - 2016)”
"These first-hand oral stories are immensely important. They provide correctives to the caricatured version of Qandeel we were so comfortable consuming without giving her any nuance and human agency," added Khan.
"Oral history gives voice to the narratives not privileged to be archived into the history books or reported by the media. They will always be questioned by those in power, but they don’t need any proof. For proofs are for the privileged, the unconsoled poor can just tell you what happened."
Qandeel Ki Kahani (Part IV): The Dance Battle
Qandeel's sister: "When they took her out of school she was still very young...
She loved dancing. She liked singing. She’d tell us her voice is really good, that she’d become a singer. She’d be watching TV and she’d say, ‘I’ll make something out of myself. I’ll do something. I’ll act, I’ll sing. I’ll do everything. You'll see.’ We [brothers and sisters] would laugh and say, ‘Azeem Baray’s daughter will do work in acting?’ She’d say ‘Yes, I’ll do it and show you all.’
[Many years ago] at my brother’s wedding in Multan, there were girls from the city. When it was time for the dance [battle]… my nephew told them, ‘My aunt [Fauzia] might be a villager, but she’ll win against you city girls.’ So they were surprised and asked him if he thought a village girl could compete with the city girls. He said she would, so they made a bet.