Khaamosh Paani (Silent Waters: 2003, Sabiha Sumar) is set in the village of Charkhi near Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The year is 1979, and General Zia-ul-Haq is assuming control over Pakistan. The central characters of the film are Ayesha and her son Saleem. The film explores themes like politics, gender and religious identity by following the lives of these people.
Charkhi is a small sleepy village where everyone seems to know each other well. The Muslims in this town have settled here post-Partition. The women are respected and are involved in the community. Ayesha and her son live a happy life in this place, but it is quickly turned upside down when two men from Lahore arrive in town.
The two men who arrive in the town have the support of the village Chaudhary. They have come to further Zia-ul-Haq's religious extremism. While one of them (Mazhar) appears to be comparatively laid-back, the other (Rasheed) is a borderline fanatic. Mazhar tells Rasheed, 'We're here not to fight but to convince' (21:20 - 21:25). As the film progresses, we see less of the mellow Mazhar and more of the aggressive Rasheed. Rasheed is hostile towards anything he believes isn't "true Islam". When he preaches at the mosque, his fervour moves the people to start chanting slogans with him. These men are here to fulfil a political agenda, and they talk of it with a burning passion. Their talk of a higher purpose aligns much support from the youth in the village, including Saleem. Saleem's trip to Rawalpindi provides a glimpse of the outrageous preaching that was being done to further General Zia's campaign. Many young men, including Saleem, were influenced by this. They preach absurd ideas such as "There is no God but Allah".
Juxtaposed against these extremists are the ordinary village folk like Mehboob the barber and Amin the postman. When Rasheed says General Zia represents people 'like you and me', the barber Mehboob laughs and says 'I am a naive villager and you're a man of politics. Which one of us does he represent?'. (30:18) He jokes about Zia being scared of elections. When the extremists try to justify everything they are doing by calling it 'Allah's decree' (48:30), Mehboob dismisses them. Rasheed gets very antagonistic when a villager says he does not care about Pakistan's creation and other such politics (34:20). Rasheed's ferocity and zealousness is disturbing and sickening. He sows unrest in the otherwise peaceful villagers who are welcoming to the Sikh pilgrims. Nonetheless, Mehboob is an example of how many people kept their wits about them and did not give in to the revolutionaries.
Saleem is a lighthearted youth who is in love with the ambitious Zubeida, with whom he is having an affair. When the fundamentalists from Lahore arrive, he is quickly swept up by them and seems to embrace their ideas wholeheartedly. His outer appearance reflects the change inside - as the film progresses, he grows out a full beard, and his eyes appear sunken where once there were joyful and carefree. He starts hiding things from his mother and becomes violent when she tries to share food with the Sikh pilgrims.
Saleem is a prime example of how the promise of a higher purpose brainwashes impressionable young men. Saleem believes he is working for the country. He is aggressive and unkind towards his mother when he finds out she is the sister of an 'infidel'. He breaks up with the girl he loved because he believes she 'corrupted' him. Despite both of them trying to reason with him, he ignores their pleas. This shows the power that such ideologies can have over people. The extremists preached jihad. They referred to non-Muslims as kaafirs or 'infidels'. A parallel can be drawn with Nazism in Germany. When there is an assurance that there is a holy, higher purpose to be fulfilled, people are ready to do nearly anything and believe they are justified. Hate seems to drive people over love.
Ayesha was raised a Sikh but converted to Islam. Despite the horrors in her life, she was able to make a life for herself in the village. She loved her husband Afsaan very much. Ayesha was respected and loved, and everyone lovingly called her 'Chachi'. Children like Asif and Shanno come to her house to play on her swing. She loves her son and approves of his relationship with Zubeida. However, when her brother Jaswant appears, and the village finds out about her past, she is labelled a kafir and is ostracised by the entire village. This ultimately leads to her suicide. The eagerness with which the people are willing to turn on her is disturbing.
Saleem and Ayesha's relationship becomes strained. Ayesha loves her only son, but he is not as concerned or worried about her. Ayesha asks her friend Shabbo – "Who can we call our own if not our children?" (43:20). Saleem, on the other hand, is embarrassed when his mother teaches the young girls that Allah is forgiving. He appears to turn a blind eye to her suffering and is caught up in his dogmatism. However, when he sees Ayesha on the roads during a rally against the Sikhs, he tells her to 'go home' (1:26:28). He pleads that she declare herself a true Muslim 'to remove all doubts'. Mother and son are trapped in a battle between the self and religious ideals; blood ties versus ties of the nation and religion.
Tragically, Ayesha was shunned from the village just because of the truth of the past. The extreme views perpetrated by Rasheed and the rest also played a part in scaring off any villagers from supporting her. Allabi and Shabbo's husbands forced them to stay away from Ayesha. Relationships that lasted for years were tossed aside just because of a fear of society. The fact that Ayesha had converted to Islam and even taught the Quran to young girls didn't seem to matter. Ayesha was well aware that the villagers would behave like this, so when her brother arrived, she pretended not to know him and tried to make him leave. The fact that she was so scared of the truth that she could not even look her brother in the eye was shockingly depressing. When we see her talking to her brother near the well, it is clear she wants nothing to do with him or her dying father. She is rightfully bitter that they tried to take her life and has no interest in leaving Charkhi. But the people of Charkhi have ostracised her. Parents stop sending their daughters to Ayesha for Quran reading. We see Ayesha's eyes light up when she sees Shabbo leaving for the market (1:25:18). Ayesha cannot even fathom that Shabbo was trying to leave without her. But when Shabbo tells her that she does not want her at her daughter's wedding, her spirit truly breaks. It is terrible that every single person in Ayesha's life left her alone. Only Zubeida stands by her in the end.
The 'silent waters' of the well hides many horrors. In the story "The Crossing" Durga also takes her life by jumping into a well. During the time of Partition, many women were forced to jump in wells to take their lives so their family's 'honour' could be preserved. It is only natural that Ayesha would refuse to go to the well. In fact, she refuses to even talk about it (08:44). The first time she goes to the well 33 years later, we hear her saying "Not me" (1:21:35). Young Veero's refusal to drown was an act of courage by a young girl desperate to live. She ran away from everything she knew into the unknown. It is ironic and terrible that she ended up taking her life years later in the same well.
There is a chest belonging to Ayesha that she keeps locked. She opens it in private (33:17, 1:03:32). After Ayesha dies, Saleem finds proof of Ayesha's previous life as Sikh in the form of religious texts and photographs in this chest. We also see that Ayesha's brother held on to her necklace for many years, and carried it with him to Pakistan. At the end of the movie, we see Zubeida also wearing the same chain as she steps out. All these people are holding onto a memento of a past life. This symbolises the fact that while humans can move on in life, they always carry a piece of their past with them. They tend to hold on to their past. Zubeida says she thinks of Ayesha sometimes, and dreams of her, although she knows 'it will not change the price of onions'. Yet despite knowing that there is no practical advantage of clinging onto a long lost past, all of them do.
The two women in the story - Ayesha and Zubeida drive the narrative. Zubaida is a strong independent young girl set on making her own life. She tells Saleem "I too read namaz, but that doesn't mean I don't think" (1:17:19). Yet neither religion (Sikh nor Islam) of the story seems to consider their take on matters. The Sikh man at (1:02:26) proudly recites how his uncles killed 22 women to preserve their honour. The village men are quick to prevent their wives from interacting with the 'infidel'. And the revolutionists make decisions about what is right for women - building walls, making them cover their heads. However, not once is the side of the woman even considered amidst all this. In the story "Lajwanti", women are treated as 'maal'. They are either not taken in by their families, or they are treated like a goddess. Never does anyone take care to hear the woman's side of the story or try to find out what they want. When Ayesha's brother comes asking about her, for some reason Amin decides to tell Jaswant how to find her, instead of telling Ayesha herself and letting her make a choice.
In conclusion, Khaamosh Paani is a short film that through a variety of characters shows how the after-effects of Partition lasted well into the future. Women faced the brunt of the religious extremism that followed through no fault of their own. We are able to go back in the past and relive the horrors through the minds of ordinary people of the time. Khaamosh Paani also makes an important statement about the use of religion as a political rallying point. It gives a glimpse into how extremists recruit impressionable young men, tactics which are used by terrorist organisations to this very day.