DAYDREAMS | خيالی پلاؤ is an experiment across Urdu poetry and multilingual cinema. It adds a third voice to a conversation between two Urdu poems, written nearly a century apart, about the nature of dreams and desires. Characters from the two poems fill up our protagonist's world as she grapples with the cost of a dream. As with the poems, and much of Urdu poetry, the film’s world is suffuse with symbolism. No act or artifact is simply itself.
The two poems with which it is in conversation are اندھا کباڑی (The Blind Scrap-Seller) by N M Rashid (1941), and اک اور اندھا کباڑی (Another Blind Scrap-Seller) by Daniyal Tareer (2018).
DAYDREAMS|خيالی پلاؤ was shot entirely on a iPhone7+.
In festivals in 2022, it was the Official Selection at the Milan Mobile Film Festival, and the African International Mobile Film Festival.
The two poems with which it is in conversation are اندھا کباڑی (The Blind Scrap-Seller) by N M Rashid (1941), and اک اور اندھا کباڑی (Another Blind Scrap-Seller) by Daniyal Tareer (2018).
DAYDREAMS|خيالی پلاؤ was shot entirely on a iPhone7+.
In festivals in 2022, it was the Official Selection at the Milan Mobile Film Festival, and the African International Mobile Film Festival.
Written and Directed by Khwaja Hamzah Saif
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CAST
Khadija Mehter
Mariel Garcia
Abid Hussain Shah
Faraz Salahuddin
Imaan Khan
Faisal Baig
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CREW
Editor — Khwaja Hamzah Saif
Sound Production — Faraz Salahuddin & Khadija Mehter
Sound Design — Khwaja Hamzah Saif
Casting Director — Imaan Khan
Score — The North Country
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAST
Khadija Mehter
Mariel Garcia
Abid Hussain Shah
Faraz Salahuddin
Imaan Khan
Faisal Baig
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CREW
Editor — Khwaja Hamzah Saif
Sound Production — Faraz Salahuddin & Khadija Mehter
Sound Design — Khwaja Hamzah Saif
Casting Director — Imaan Khan
Score — The North Country
2022 FESTIVAL RUN
MILAN MOBILE FILM FESTIVAL | Oct 15th, 2025 (Milan)
AFRICAN INTERNATIONAL MOBILE FILM FESTIVAL | Dec 21st, 2022 (Lagos)
AFRICAN INTERNATIONAL MOBILE FILM FESTIVAL | Dec 21st, 2022 (Lagos)