Sajal Aly to portray Fatima Jinnah

Mader-e-Milat Fatima Jinnah was a key figure in the independence movement of Pakistan. Several movies have been made on partition and several actresses have gotten to portray Fatima Jinnah. However, a biopic specifically on her life has never been made.

This time, writer and director Danial K Afzal is all set to show the story of Fatima Jinnah. It has been reported that it will be Sajal Aly (for the phase of age 50) who will depict her along with Samiya Mumtaz (for age 70) and Sundus Farhan to showcase her 30s.

According to the director, “Fatima Jinnah is a figure that has not been touched before and knowing how women-centric stories are sold and taken to a higher esteem in Pakistan, I think she will be creating quite a ripple effect.”

The series will consist of three seasons with 15 episodes per season. The first season is going to be pre-independence (played by Sundus Farhan), the second is going to be during the independence (played by Sajal Aly), while the third season will depict post-independence era (played by Samiya Mumtaz) entirely from the perspective of Fatima Jinnah.

Following the announcement, people showed mixed reactions to the casting. Many fans lauded the decision of casting Sajal. But many users were not happy with the choice. “Not a good idea,” a user wrote in response. One user suggested, “Saba and Aiza would be a better choice.”

According to the director, Sajal has been chosen because “she is an international icon, with her film with Jemima coming in and there’s a lot of big projects she’s doing”.

He further revealed that influencer Dananeer is also a part of the cast where she will play the role of a journalist.

Many users are also concerned about the true portrayal of her life as well. “Are they going to portray the tension between her and military as well?” a user wrote. Another user wrote “Im actually excited for the phase being portrayed by Samiya because we never knew what happened to her after independence because she was demonized for taking part in elections.” How the director has planned the depiction of that phase is not known for now, but the hype around the series is already up.

Director Afzal has also hinted that the show might come on tv, as initially it is intended for the OTT platforms.

The show will release on August 14 but its teaser is ready to go. It contains three scenes; one of Bombay, one of the ’47 train carrying the beheaded corpses and the third when she [Fatima Jinnah] stood for the elections.