Khuda Kay Liye

Mansoor and Sarmad are two brothers making music in Lahore and are the best known names in the city. Sarmad falls under the influence of a cleric, gives up music, and grows steadily harder. Mansoor goes to Chicago to study music. After 11 September the FBI detains him; he has committed no crime but is held for months and badly treated. There is also Mariam, who grew up in England, and whose father wants to marry her off by force. Shoaib Mansoor's film looks inward and outward at the same time: on one side those who interpret religion to suit themselves, on the other America after 11 September treating everyone with a Muslim name as a suspect. It finds both at fault and shows both as they are. Naseeruddin Shah has a short part that sits at the centre of the film. It was shown in Pakistan in 2007 and in India in 2008; it was the first Pakistani film released in India in nearly half a century. Two hours and forty-eight minutes.