Perhaps
the only job Arif would allow his fiancée Rafina to take might be Prime
Minister. He is an ardent supporter of
the exiled Benazir Bhutto, because her party pays him to be. With little education or prospects, he clings
to his chauvinism when Rafina finds unlikely success in the Pakistani fashion
industry. Despite Bhutto’s example, Rafina will have to overcome constant
opposition to pursue her modeling career in Sabiha Sumar’s Good Morning Karachi (trailer here), the centerpiece
selection of this year’s South Asian International Film Festival in New York.
The
very notion of a Pakistani Models Inc. sounds
like a healthy step in the right direction, but Sumar and her co-writers, Malia
Scotch Marmo and Samhita Arni, are not exactly overflowing with optimism. Set in the days leading up to Bhutto’s
assassination, Karachi will obviously
intersect with tragedy sometime in the third act. However, it resists the temptation to
completely intertwine the fate of its characters with that of real world
figures. Arguably, Bhutto’s shadow is more of a reality check than a dramatic
device.
Yearning
for relative independence, Rafina convinces Rosie, a close friend of the
family, to find her a spot with her employer: Radiance, an exclusive beauty
salon operated by a modeling agency. Of
course, Rafina will not have to labor long before her unspoiled beauty lands
her in front of a camera. As it happens,
she has the perfect look for a difficult client. Naturally, Arif feels betrayed by her success
and Rafina’s mother worries about the sort of attention she might attract. She
is not being unduly concerned, given the film starts in media res, as masses of
Islamist protestors set fire to fashion billboards.
As
fashion model melodramas go, Karachi is
a pretty good one, especially considering the general state of Pakistani
society. Shrewdly, Sumar does not over
venerate Rafina’s virtues. She makes
mistakes and sometimes passively accepts the easier but not necessarily best course
of action. She is human and therefore
has a right to live her life as she sees fit, which she rather steadfastly does
her best to do. However, the film’s attitude
towards Bhutto is much more ambivalent, clearly questioning why her
administration did so little to improve the outlook for forward thinking women
like Rafina.
As
Rafina, Amna Ilyes commands the screen, conveying the runway ingénue’s naiveté,
without coming across nauseatingly immature.
Beo Raana Zafar also adds mountains of dignity as her beloved auntie Rosie.
The rest of the cast is a bit spotty, with Yasir Aqueel perhaps being the
spottiest as the flyweight Arif. Still,
everybody earns some props for appearing in a film that seriously addresses
gender issues in Pakistan.
