Rafina

Amna Ilyas is the young "Rafina" who has dreams of becoming a model in her home city, but who faces quite a few challenges from her sceptical family and her fiancé who thinks she ought to be grateful for the chance to get married, have babies and live at home. An attempt to revitalise this rather well-trammelled concept has been made by setting it against the considerable political upheaval that was being caused by the imminent arrival from exile of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto but that doesn't really lift this lacklustre story enough. That said, it's actually quite a well made drama, and the actors do enough to keep it going for eighty minutes but the substance and characters are poorly developed and it takes a very simplistic look at the cultural attitudes of both the sexes and the generations. Sure, everybody should dream - but not everyone can be a model or a brain surgeon or an astronaut, and the film does rather present us with an all too linear appreciation of not just her own aspirations but also one of those who advise against this risky and potentially short-term career path - embarked upon, supposedly, in the name of empowerment or liberation. Director Sabiha Kumar is trying to make a point but she doesn't really make any attempt to calibrate the drama in any sort of balanced fashion - epitomised by the loving but strained relationship between "Rafina" and her mother (Saba Hameed). It looks good, though, capturing the hustle and bustle of this vibrant city well, but it's just a bit too undercooked.