What happened
A feature film on the life of the recently assassinated Pakistani political leader Benazir Bhutto is in development, according to Pakistan’s Daily Times. Karachi-based Skies Unlimited Films will produce the biopic, Indian filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt will collaborate, and renowned poet Aqeel Ahmad Ruby will write the screenplay. The film’s director and cast have yet to be announced.
What the commentators said
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It’s only been a week since Bhutto was assassinated and “a film biography of the beloved leader is already in the works,” said Eric D. Snider in the blog Cinematical. “Her life should make for quite a story,” though. But the film’s production company claims it doesn’t want to create any controversy with this movie. “A film about a polarizing political figure whose assassination led to riots, and you hope it doesn’t turn out to be controversial? Good luck with that.”
If this movie was being developed in America, “I’d accuse the producers of not waiting until the body was cold,” said Tony Whitt in IfMagazinecom. “But since it’s in Pakistan, it’s hard to say what the motivations are.” One thing’s for sure: It’s going to be a difficult film to make, especially once “facts about the assassination come to light—facts that will perforce need to be included in the finished movie.”
This project will likely be “an uncritical and worshipful biopic of the leader, in line with the praise given to her in the time since her death,” said Katey Rich in the blog Cinema Blend. And don’t be surprised if it does “major business in Pakistan and India, where Bhutto was an icon.” But in America, “most of us didn’t know who” she was until she was assassinated, and “our attention span will most likely waver in the time it takes before this movie comes out.”
