Jhoomar

Plot

The story written by Syed Noor revolves around Gulaab Bibi (Saima), a village belle who falls in love with a dashing army officer Shahnawaz (Momey) posted in her village along the Pakistan-India border. Shahnawaz hails from a well-off wadera family that owns, among other things, an imposing haveli complete with a two-way staircase in the entrance hall that serves as a vantage point for theatrical entries and exits by different characters throughout the film.

In Shahnawaz’s family, both his brothers Ricky Mirza and Danial Khan and a heavy-duty, bedecked sister-in-law put up serious opposition to his marriage plans to Gulaab. Instead, they have their sights set on his brother’s glamorous sister-in-law (played by actress Aleena) as a much more suitable match for him.

Shahnawaz, however, foils their plans by bringing the newlywed Gulaab to the haveli, much to the ire of his family, before setting off for a romantic honeymoon. Trouble rears its ugly head when Gulaab is supposedly found to be unable to have children and her brother-in-law [Danial Khan] puts pressure on Shahnawaz to marry Aleena for the sake of carrying on the lineage. Gulaab is eventually kicked out of the house after being falsely blamed of having an affair. In a bid to commit suicide, a devastated Gulaab consequently finds herself on the wrong side of the Wagah Border. She is whisked off to jail after interrogation.

What follows in the second half of the film is the metamorphosis of Saima from a naïve village girl to a defiant, courageous, and larger-than-life heroine who braves the horrific circumstances of prison in order to eventually redeem herself in the eyes of Shahnawaz, who, in a twist ending, is the one suffering from infertility and not she.

Cast