Dukhtar

Afia Nathaniel : 2014

Fleeing with her ten-year-old daughter after the girl is promised in marriage as part of a peace treaty, the wife of a tribal chieftain is pursued through the mountains by both her husband and the intended groom's henchmen. At the age of fifteen, Allah Rakhi was given in marriage to the much older tribal chieftain Daulat Khan, who took her from her family in Lahore to live with him in the mountains. Now, two decades later, Daulat Khan is presented with the opportunity to make peace with rival tribe leader Tor Gul, and he seals the deal by offering his fellow chieftain his and Allah Rakhi's ten-year-old daughter Zainab in marriage. Tormented at the prospect that her daughter's life might be a repetition of her own, Allah Rakhi flees with the oblivious young girl in tow. Pursued by Daulat Khan and Tor Gul's henchmen, and knowing that she is highly conspicuous as an unaccompanied woman on a mountain road, Allah Rakhi manages to get a lift for her and Zainab by lying to a sympathetic truck driver, Sohail. When Sohail learns of the real reason for Allah Rakhi's flight, he is forced to decide whether he will endanger his own life to deliver mother and daughter to safety in Lahore. Afia Nathaniel's thriller, her feature debut, premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2014.