“We are so honoured and I can’t wait to watch you soar even higher!”
Renowned music producer Abdullah Siddiqui has announced that he has produced four songs for Wakhri, which is inspired by social media star Qandeel Baloch.
On Instagram, Abdullah stated:
“I produced four new tracks for Wakhri, the new film by the wonderful Iram Parveen Bilal, and they’re out now.
“They have been performed by the insane lineup of Meesha Shafi, Ali Sethi, Eva B, Natasha Noorani and RFB.
“The world of Wakhri is an explosive, unapologetic technicolour and I had the time of my life living in it and creating its soundscape.
“These songs are a lot of fun and they tell an important story, and I really hope you feel the love we poured into them.”
Abdullah then went on to list the songs and the artists.
Iram commented on the post and shared her excitement:
“We are so honoured and I can’t wait to watch you soar even higher!”
The post received even more love from fans.
One post read: “When are you dropping some solo man? My ears are thirsting for your voice.”
Another said: “Woah! Insane lineup!”
In early December 2023, Wakhri featured at the Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia.
Kaleem Aftab, head of the Film Fest Internation Programming, said at the time:
“Well, I don’t want to go out on a limb too much before they are shown, but I think people will be very struck by the new film by Iram Bilal, Wakhri: One of a Kind.
“I feel like this is a film that talks about an incident that happened in Pakistan and is changing the narrative on that.
“I’m also happy to have Zarrar Kahn’s non-conventional horror film In Flames, also from Pakistan which changed the genre.”
Speaking about the film, Iram shared her knowledge of Qandeel Baloch and what inspired her to make the film.
Iram revealed: “Qandeel Baloch was a raunch social media star from the poorer masses of Pakistan.
“Unleashing the brave and provocative; wildly popular and wildly hated.
“We learned of her exactly a week before she was brutally murdered by her brother. It was an atypical honour killing because the family was well aware of her ‘ways’.
“They were also financially gaining from it. It was a new way of experiencing ‘shame’. It was a new kind of ‘lynching’.
“What triggered the writing of this story was her resilient and irreverent spirit.
“We strangely couldn’t stop thinking about her.
“It was severely personal – this feeling of defeat and the brewing anger that was simmering in our hearts.”
“Any woman who owned her story and dared to occupy a public figure avatar in Pakistan, even if online, was hated and silenced.
“All that she would be defined as was in correlation to her father, brother or husband. She did not dare speak up or be defined as her person.
“We don’t want to glorify an honour killing.
“We want to make a film where we give the Pakistani audience, the world’s audience, a second chance to possibly save her.
“This is the genesis of Wakhri, a fictional story inspired by Qandeel’s story but also not limited to her fight. A study to track the correlation between hate crimes and social media wildfires.
“This film is an ode to all those women in the shadows who were inspired by her bravery. We wish to blow wind beneath the wings of all the women who want to be seen and heard.”
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