India’s Alankrita Shrivastava Sets Film on Slain Pakistani Social Media Star Qandeel Baloch (EXCLUSIVE)
Naman Ramachandran Acclaimed Indian filmmaker Alankrita Shrivastava will direct a film about Pakistani model and social media star Qandeel Baloch, who was murdered in an honor killing in 2016. Shrivastava, along with producers Vikas Sharma (“Toba Tek Singh”) and Sunny Khanna (“Why Cheat India”), has acquired the rights to the book “The Sensational Life and Death of Qandeel Baloch,” by Sanam Maher, published by Aleph, it was revealed ahead of the Cannes Film Market.Shrivastava’s credits include feminist films “Lipstick Under My Burkha,” which was briefly banned in India in 2017, Busan selection “Dolly Kitty and Those Twinkling Stars” and Netflix series “Bombay Begums.”Baloch, whose real name is Fouzia Azeem, had stoked controversy in Pakistan by living a Westernized lifestyle and posting her thoughts on social media, including Facebook and Twitter. Divorced from her husband, she had been nicknamed “Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian” and “Pakistan’s first social media star.” “When Qandeel Baloch was murdered in Pakistan in 2016, I was shaken up,” Shrivastava said.