Aurat Raj

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]

Aurat Raj
Directed by	Rangeela
Produced by	Rangeela
Starring	Rani Begum Waheed Murad Sultan Rahi Usman Peerzada Badar Munir Nanha Shehla Gill Durdana Rehman
Release date	1979 (1979)
Country	Pakistan
Language	Urdu

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

• Rani
• Waheed Murad
• Sultan Rahi
• Chakori
• Naghma
• Shehla Gill
• Durdana Rehman
• Rangeela
• Yasmin Khan
• Badar Munir
• Asif Khan
• Usman Pirzada
• Khanum
• Waheeda Khan
• Surayya Khan
• Nazar
• Nanha
• Albela
• Khalid Saleem Mota
• Iqbal Durrani
• Irfan Khoost
• Ali Ahmed
• Ladla
• Chakram
• Saqi
• Shahnawaz
• (Guests: Yousuf Khan, Ali Ejaz, Durdana Rehman, Zahid Khan)

Box office

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

See also

• Aurat March
• Me too movement in Pakistan
• Girls at Dhabas

References

1. 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.

External links

• Aurat Raj at IMDb