Actress Sofia Hayat kidnapped by her parents

Sofia Hayat shows Asian diaspora’s life in ‘Dishonoured’

Sofia Hayat, a Britain-based actress of Pakistani origin, who was kidnapped by her parents at knife point, has scripted a film called “Dishonoured”, about the trials and tribulations of Asians in Britain. She says it is inspired by her own life.

“I have written a film script, which would be half filmed in India. The film will go on the floors by the end of this year. A production company in UK took it at $2 million. I am very excited about the project. The film’s cast will have actors from both – UK and India,” Hayat told IANS.

Sofia, also a singer and model, is in India to shoot for director Vinod Mukhia’s women-oriented drama “Diary of a Butterfly”.

In “Dishonoured”, she gives an insight to the life of a British Indian (mostly girls) who dare to pursue a career against parents will.

“It’s based on my life and based on many Asian people’s life growing up in India and England. My story starts with how a girl wants to be a performer and how she handles parents’ objection,” she said.

“My parents at kidnapped me from University at knife point because I changed my course from science to arts against their will. I could escape and police got involved. That incident made me write the book called ‘Dishonoured’. Even my music album is named ‘Dishonoured’,” she said.

Asked if she would be directing the film too, she said: “I think I have to let it go. If you can get a good director on board, he can do a better job than I can. I can be a good director because I am a creative person. I have the images of the scene to be shot. So I would be working closely in the project to make it as realistic as it can be.”

Dave Lindahl