ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a Partition film titled Khamosh Pani and argues that it subverts patriarchal religio-nationalism and re-envisions the totalized history of the two national constructs through the liminal figure of the female protagonist Ayesha. It also focuses on the "Recovery Act" of Partition to argue for a nuanced understanding of agency in understanding Ayesha's subjectivity. Ayesha/Veero's final plunge into the silent waters serves as a moment of agentic revelation that reminds us that the author in the chapter refuses to be pinned into fossilized religious-ethnic identities and transgresses the boundaries of a statist notion of religious identity. The reception of the film was controversial and one may argue that the film presents a monolithic version of Islam under the reign of General Zia ul Haq in Pakistan. The chapter shows the women characters' resistance and agency in constructing a varied account of Islam in the film that goes against any notions of an essentialized understanding of the Islam.
