Cake

Cooking Up Drama Pakistani film, Cake , was streamed recently to an appreciative audience. The Asim Abbasi film, was released in the UK, and was the country’s entry for the Academy Awards. TV serials from Pakistan have been popular across the Urdu-Hindi speaking world, but hardly any film crosses the border, and those that do (pirated) are usually shoddy copies of Bollywood films—though Bollywood is known to filch their music. Some of the better films—like Khuda Ke Liye or Khamosh Pani— have been screened at festivals, but now even that channel seems to be blocked. Cake takes Pakistani cinema up a few notches and presents a picture of the country that is modern and sophisticated. Set in the well-appointed home of a wealthy landowning family, the film tells the story of two thirty-something sisters Zareen (Aamina Sheikh) and Zara (Sanam Saeed), single and independent. Their married brother Zain (Faris Khalid) lives in the US with his wife and son. Wh...