New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS) Angry Ramchand Kohli, a Pakistani Dalit boy, sprints away too far. His father tries to stop him but both end up crossing the border. They land in an Indian jail, are interrogated as suspected spies and the mother back home fights the consequences.

That is the plot of 'Ramchand Pakistani', a Pakistani movie having key characters from the socially marginalized Dalit community in the Muslim dominated nation.

Excerpts from the movie, which will be released in India and Pakistan in April next year, were shown at the 6th WISCOMP (Women in Security Conflict Management) convention this month in Delhi.

A collaboration of Indians and Pakistanis, the film has Nandita Das playing the character of Champa, the mother of seven-year-old Ramchand. India's Debayjyoti Mishra has given the music and the background score of the movie, and Shubha Mudgal has sung three of its four songs.

Rashid Farooqui plays the father while the child and grownup Ramchand are played by Syed Fazal Hussain and Navaid Jabbar respectively. All three are Pakistani actors.

Says the writer of the movie, Javed Jabbar: 'On the face of it, the Pakistan-India and the Hindu-Muslim aspects of the film appear to be fairly straight forward and predictable...Yet it can be claimed with confidence that the specific features and contours of the story of 'Ramchand...' make it an original film.

'Simply by being who they are, or through their interactions with each other, the characters of the story reflect some, if not all, of the facets that mark the complex relationship between two neighbouring societies and states,' Jabbar told IANS.

'The Indian jail in which Ramchand and his father are imprisoned becomes a microcosm of the contrasts and commonalities, the empathy and the mistrust, the hate and the love...It espouses the values of peace, friendship and trust between diverse people,' said Jabbar.

Adapted from a real life incident, the story depicts how an accidental crossover along the Pakistan-India border at a time of war-like tension in 2002 dramatically changes the lives of this poor Dalit family.

Though the technicalities of the film cannot be categorised as a cinematic wonder, the story filmed by debutant director Mehreen Jabbar engrossingly interweaves two parallel tracks on either side of the border.

It mirrors the emotional trauma of families living near the Pakistan-India border, especially in times of high tension between the two nations. And on the other hand illustrates the treatment that many innocent prisoners get in jails after being suspected of espionage.

The movie has been entirely shot in the Pakistani village Nagarparkar, located along the border with India.

(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at Sarwar.k@ians.in)