It doesn’t have songs, is in Punjabi, is made by a Pakistani and is considered a mainstream film — documentary filmmaker Sabiha Sumar’s first film “Khamosh Pani” is finally set to be released in theatres across the country.

But will there be an audience for a film about a victim of the partition of India into two countries whose past catches up with her in unexpected and tragic ways?

The question needs to be asked even though the sweet tender film has floored everyone who has seen it so far.

Dir: Sabiha Sumar
Cast: Kirron Kher, Aamir Malik, Shilpa Shukla

In conversation with a friend, a visibly disappointed Ayesha (Kher) casually mentions, “If your son cannot be yours; who can be?”

She obviously refers to her once innocent and sweet boy Salim (Malik), who’s turned a religious fanatic. Also, her supposedly protective Sikh family in pre-partition India, who had preferred to abandon her, force her to commit suicide, lest she face the horrors of being a non-Muslim girl left behind in Islamic Pakistan.

Lahore is fast becoming the Mumbai crowd’s top holiday destination. From youngsters looking for a cheap vacation to film stars and writers, all are looking forward to crossing the Wagah border in the near future.

Bollywood’s Mr India, Anil Kapoor, revealed his old ties with Pakistan. “My mother is actually from Lahore and we still have a family home in Peshawar,” he said, adding that travelling to the NWFP and seeing the places where his mother spent her childhood were his main reasons for wanting to visit Pakistan. Anil admits that despite this connection, he remains unfamiliar with Pakistan’s traditions and that the extent of his knowledge goes no further than what he has observed in a few films.

Karachi is famous for food, sandy beaches, bustling lifestyle and Kara Film festival. Kara film festival is an event organized by KaraFilm society a group of young committed filmmakers.

Last year’s festival “Dekh magar Pyar se” (”watch but do it with love” is probably the right translation for the phrase) was a blast. Among many other attractions of this festival there were movies such as “Khamosh Pani aka silent waters” winner of Grand Prize at Locarno Film Festival, world premier of “Paap” a Mahesh Bhatt production directed by Pooja Bhatt and “Ghar ki Talash”. The festival was a smash hit thousands of people visited and watched movies with great enthusiasm. There were movies from USA, UK, Europe, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Sabiha Sumar won the top prize at Switzerland’s principal film festival(6-16 August) with her story of a woman whose son becomes an extremist.

The jury awarded the Golden Leopard to “Khamosh Pani” (”Silent Waters”), about the relationship between a widow and her son as the young man veers into religious extremism after in 1979. The film also won the festival’s Ecumenical Prize.

The open spaces in the Pakistani villages were packed. People were sitting in trees and on rooftops. In a nation that barely has a film industry, director Sabiha Sumar’s travelling cinema was both a novelty and a flashpoint.

What Sumar showed in 41 villages throughout Pakistan earlier this year was her new feature film Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters), which depicts how religious fundamentalism — in this case, both Muslim and Sikh — can destroy families.