"I Wanted the Film to Have the Vignetted Existence of a Fable": Sarmad Sultan Khoosat on his Genre-bending Berlinale Premiere Lali

"An entirely original supernatural-horror ballad of a cursed bride and a cursed groom, woven from old wives tales (it's inspired by a short story written by Khoosat's aunt) and obliquely critical of Pakistan's accursed sociocultural legacies, is one of the most exciting genre films to emerge from the South Asian subcontinent this decade."

"Tripling as a black comedy and a concert of folk songs, is sharper and brighter because Khoosat avoids obvious routes and caricatures. It features a refreshingly loving relationship between mother- and daughter-in-law, and a queer gaze via the casting (here, even the milkman is homoerotically hot)."

"Khoosat explores lust, death, grief, and loathing with a rawness bedecked with reds and purples, and with jinns, shawls, hawks, and ominous neighborly mutterings rounding out the diorama of inheritances."

A celebratory bullet grazes matriarch Sohni Ammi at her son's wedding in provincial Pakistan, where the bride Zeba carries a curse—her previous two fiancés died mysteriously. The groom Sajawal harbors his own shame as they navigate their marriage. Director Sarmad Sultan Khoosat's feature, Pakistan's first all-local production at the Berlinale, presents an original supernatural-horror ballad inspired by old wives' tales. The film employs South Asian gothic aesthetics through distinctive costumes, makeup, and production design. Functioning simultaneously as black comedy and folk concert, it explores lust, death, grief, and loathing while avoiding caricature. The narrative features an unusually loving mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship and incorporates queer representation through casting choices, creating a rich tapestry of inherited curses and cultural legacies.

Read at Filmmaker Magazine