July 24, 2008 3:00:46 PM IST Bollywood Trade News Network

Percept Picture Company (PPC) will yet again bring Indo-Pak relations closer, as they again take the responsibility to release another Pakistani Film RAMCHAND PAKISTANI in India. After successful journey with cross-border film KHUDA KAY LIYE, PPC is in all good confidence that RAMCHAND PAKISTANI would add more feathers to their cap. The film directed by young Pakistani women Film-Maker, Mehreen Jabbar, stars India's most critically acclaimed actress Nandita Das, along side Pakistani actors like Rashid Farooqui, Noman Ijaz, Maria Wasti, Navaid Jabbar and little boy Syed Fazal Hussain. The film will open in Indian Cinemas this August 22.

RAMCHAND PAKISTANI is derived from a true story concerning the accidental crossing of the Pakistan-Indian border during a period of extreme, war-like tension between the two countries by two members of a Pakistani Hindu family belonging to the 'untouchable' caste, and the extraordinary consequences of this unintended action upon the lives of a woman, a man, and their son.

The singular theme of the film is how a child from Pakistan aged eight years learns to cope with the trauma of forced separation from his mother while being held prisoner, along with his father in the jail of a country i.e. India, which is hostile to his own, while on the other side of the border, the wife-mother, devastated by their sudden disappearance builds a new chapter of her life, by her solitary struggle for sheer survival.

The film portrays the lives of a family that is at the bottom of a discriminatory religious ladder and an insensitive social system, which is nevertheless tolerant, inclusive and pluralist. The irony is compounded by the fact that such a family becomes hostage to the acrimonious political relationship between two neighbor-states poised on the brink of war.

The talented versatile actress Nandita Das who started her career with critically acclaimed performance in Deepa Mehta's Film FIRE, and went on to excel with her brilliant performances in films like HAZAAR CHAURASI KI MAA, EARTH, BAWANDAR, HARI BHARI, MAATI MAAY, PITAAH, SUPARI, PROVOKED, LAL SALAAM, KAGAAR, BAS YUN HI, AKS and many more is back with another outstanding film that adds to her string of realistic cinema. But this time it is the Pakistani film RAMCHAND PAKISTANI.

'The film is about a poor lonely woman who finds herself alone in an insensitive social and political system. The film is also a commentary on the mind set which declares the innocent victims of accidental and inadvertent border crossings as spies without proper investigation." Says Nandita

This is Nandita's first Pakistani film although she has acted in many feature films, in different languages; she is giving more importance to this Pakistani film. "This film can't be counted as a conventional Pakistani film just because it has been made in Pakistan. This is a distinctive film with broad appeal. This film reflects the tragedy of hundreds of innocent persons of either country who languish in jails of the other and the devastation for all their families." She adds

RAMCHAND PAKISTANI is the directorial debut for Pakistani Lady, Mehreen Jabbar, who has directed many award winning television plays in Pakistan before this venture. The film has already become a widely talked about film both nations as this gutsy film was selected for the narrative section of the Tribeca Film Festival 2008, New York and was also screened at the Seattle International Film Festival, June 2008 and won rave reviews. RAMCHAND PAKISTANI was also screened at 10th The Osian Film Festival, New Delhi this July and has also been selected for the Rhode August 2008 Island International Film Festival., USA

In India, the film will be officially released by Percept Picture Company (PPC).