Bollywood film on Xpress story
Abused and jailed, Indian expat was divorced from her Pakistani husband and separated from her twins...
In what is a first for Gulf
News, a story carried by its sister publication XPRESS last November is being made into a Bollywood film. The yet-to-be-titled movie, to be directed by Ribhu Dasgupta of Te3n fame and produced by Arslan Goni, Sam Fernandes and Rajat Shrivastav, revolves around the story of Dubai resident Zainab Fawad, whose plight was reported by
XPRESS Editor Mazhar Farooqui in a cover story on November 17, 2016. Abused, rendered homeless and jailed, the 44-year-old Indian expatriate was divorced from her Pakistani husband and separated from her four-year-old twin boys. At one point, she even contemplated ending her life.
But following an overwhelming response to the XPRESS report, it was picked by the Pakistan media and soon, officials from Pakistan’s home ministry and several local NGOs contacted Zainab. Following their intervention, she completed the necessary paperwork that paved the way for her boys, Mustafa and Muzammil, to be flown to Dubai and reunited with her after nearly three years.
Speaking to XPRESS from Mumbai, Goni said: “When we came to know about Zainab’s story through XPRESS, we realised it had to be told. As they say, every film has its own destiny.”
Goni travelled to the UAE with Dasgupta and the others to seek Zainab’s consent. “We spent over a week in Dubai meeting Zainab, Farooqui, Farhat Ali Khan and Juhi Yasmeen Khan who played a key role in turning things around. The film will be based on actual events and everyone who has been part of the story will be duly represented,” he said.
Goni said the script is still under construction.
Zainab, who is still coming to terms with the development, said, “XPRESS has changed my life. I thank Allah and bless each one of you for reuniting me with my kids. I hope the film will do well. It is an encouragement to every woman never to lose hope — after all it is not easy for an Indian woman to get her children back from Pakistan.”
Recollecting his first interaction with Zainab, Farooqui said it started with a desperate message she sent him on Facebook last November. “When I called her, she was in a bad state. She claimed she had only half a packet of biscuits left and was on the verge of killing herself. It was only the thought of her boys that was stopping her from going ahead,” he said.
Subsequently, Farooqui met Zainab and heard her story. A bachelor of arts graduate from Gujarat, she had come to the UAE in 2003. Four years later, she married a Pakistani man whom she met at a Jebel Ali company where she had taken up an admin job. In 2012, she delivered the twins and the family lived happily in Sharjah.
Differences cropped up after her husband set up an event management firm in her name and the family moved to a flat in Al Muhaisnah, Dubai.
“Things came to a head when my husband took the kids [both Indian passport holders] to Pakistan. In late 2014 I went to a police station in Dubai to report a missing wallet, but was put behind bars as the events company had several bounced cheque cases against it. I spent nearly one month in prison,” Zainab had told XPRESS.
After being released from jail, Zainab claimed in the XPRESS report that she roughed it out in airport waiting areas for two months before taking a sharing accommodation in Al Rigga. Between July and September 2015, she was arrested two more times for unpaid court fines and a case filed against her by the landlord of their Al Muhaisnah home.
The story touched a chord with XPRESS readers. There has been no looking back for Zainab and her boys. Mustafa and Muzammil are now enrolled at Al Salam Private School, Al Nahda.