It’s safe to say most of us didn’t know who Benazir Bhutto was until the former prime minister of Pakistan was assassinated there last week, but that wasn’t the case in her native country. Revered by many supporters both before and after her assassination, Bhutto will be receiving the biopic treatment from Indian director Mahesh Bhatt. The Pakistani company Skies Unlimited Films will produce the project, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Skies Unlimited producer Aneela Khan said in the article “The basic motive behind this announcement is just to dedicate this film to Benazir Bhutto. The film is going to be released internationally, and we don't want to create any controversy with this film."
Hard to tell where a project like this could go, given than Bhutto was so recently assassinated and the details of her death are still being debated. Given how many people looked up to her as an important contender against current Pakistani President Musharraf in the upcoming election, this is guaranteed to be an uncritical and worshipful biopic of the leader, in line with the praise given to her in the time since her death. There’s plenty of room for such a movie, and it will likely do major business in Pakistan and India, where Bhutto was an icon. Over here, probably not so much. We didn’t know much about her to begin with, and as interesting and powerful as she was, our attention span will most likely waver in the time it takes before this movie comes out.
I guess we can all be glad this won’t be some revisionist history look at Bhutto; political tensions over there are high enough as it is, and the last thing we need is a movie riling things up. It will be interesting in a few years, though, to see a movie to document this entire time period, with a little more perspective on the aftermath of her death.
