Laaj

Crew on Laaj escapes sniper fire

	Left to right: Zara Shaikh, Fleuer Klijnsma and Azra Aftab in a scene from Laaj.

Pakistani Writer/Director, Rauf Khalid, chose to film some of the feature Laaj, which translates to It Happened In The East, in a lawless tribal area near the Pakistan/ Afghanistan border, as it was here that the events occurred upon which the film is based. Local authorities advised him to leave after unruly locals, unhappy with having a film crew in their midst, fired on them.

“The most difficult set-up was when we were shooting a British era fort on the Afghanistan border at night,” said Director of Photography, Waqar Bukhari. “I had to light up the whole fort outer wall with only 12 lights, three of which were HMIs. This was the unfortunate place and time when the snipers started shooting at us. One bullet hit a car, another hit a generator and the rest hit the fort wall. All of us fell on the ground.”

Despite the danger, the director would not be deterred from using this location: “I will either finish my shooting or die here.” The dramatic historical romance centres on a couple whose love transcended religious boundaries and sparked a war. Filmed in Urdu/Hindi and English, it is set in the 1930s when the Pashtoons of the north west frontier of India turned against the ruling British Raj.