Aurat Raj

Aurat Raj
Directed byRangeela
Produced byRangeela
StarringRani Begum
Waheed Murad
Sultan Rahi
Usman Peerzada
Badar Munir
Nanha
Shehla Gill
Durdana Rehman
Release date
  • 1979 (1979)
CountryPakistan
LanguageUrdu

Aurat Raj (transl. Women's Rule) is one of first Pakistani feminist film. Released in 1979, it was produced and directed by Rangeela.[1][2] It is a satirical movie and was produced during the grim times for women under the conservative dictator, General Zia-ul-Haq's, socio-politically adverse dictatorship. Ahead of its time, it did not do well commercially at the box office.[1]

The plot is based on a short story of Shaukat Thanvi, where oppressed women of Pakistan fight back by forming a feminist movement on roads and gain political power too. After gaining political power, in a satirical comedy fantasy scene, the female lead gives a taste of patriarchy and misogyny to Pakistani men by converting all of them into women a time.[1] The fantastical scenarios, musical flights and comedic twists in the film have been hailed as interventionist tools and techniques that help to complicate and refashion the present by envisioning radical futures.[3]

Cast

Box office

The film was a "Silver Jubilee" hit, completing 45 weeks in theaters.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Paracha, Nadeem F. (17 August 2014). "Pakistan's first radical feminist". Dawn. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  2. ^ Rabe, Nate (15 April 2017). "Sound of Lollywood: When men turned into dupatta-covered minions in 'Aurat Raj'". Scroll. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  3. ^ Mokhtar, Shehram (May 2018). "Aurat Raj: Hacking Masculinity & Reimagining Gender in South Asian Cinema". Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology (13). doi:10.5399/uo/ada.2018.13.2. Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2020.