Bol

Bol (lit. Speak or word(s)) is a 2011 Pakistani Urdu language social drama film written, directed and produced by Shoaib Mansoor. The film stars Humaima Malik, Atif Aslam, Mahira Khan, Iman Ali, Shafqat Cheema, Amr Kashmiri, Manzar Sehbai and Zaib Rehman in the lead roles. The film marks the debut of singer Atif Aslam and Mahira Khan. It concerns a religious Muslim family facing financial difficulties caused by too many children and changing times, with a major plot involving the father's desire to have a son and his rejection of his existing intersex child. Bol was a critical and commercial success, and became one of the highest-grossing Pakistani films of all time.

This film was part of a maternal and child health project, PAIMAN (Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns), implemented by and The Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHU.CCP) which entered in a partnership with Shoaib Mansoor's Shoman Productions in 2009. The objective of the project was to advocate for women's rights by bringing the focus of media and the elite of Pakistan to family planning and gender issues. The PAIMAN Project Communications Advisor and country representative of JHU.CCP, Fayyaz Ahmad Khan, served as the executive producer of the movie. The film was reviewed by the Central Board of Film Censors in Lahore on 8 November 2010 and received its approval the next day. Bol is set in Lahore and many students from National College of Arts' (NCA) filmmaking department assisted Shoaib Mansoor on it.

Plot
The film starts by showing the protagonist, Zainab, about to be hanged. She tells her story to media right before this happens. She grew up with six sisters, a mother and a father. The father always wanted a son so that the son could help with the financial issues of the family; the father does not believe in women being gainfully employed. They have an intersex child (khawajah sara in Urdu) named Syed Saifullah Khan or Saifi. The father does not like Saifi since he is intersex. Saifi is deeply loved by the rest of his family. Zainab is married to a guy who keeps harassing her for not giving birth. Hence, she comes back to her father's house. Zainab's mother keeps having babies that are born dead. Zainab arranges a tubal ligation for her. When Hakim finds out, he becomes very angry.

One day, Zainab sees Saifi dressed in women's clothes and gets very disturbed. Hakim owns a small traditional pharmacy and is approached by a man who asks him to teach The Quran to children, since Hakim is a very religious man who has bonds with the mosque. Hakim initially refuses because the man, Saqa, is running a brothe*. Meanwhile, the mosque gives him some money to keep, since they believe him to be trustworthy. Mustafa, a neighbour, gets Saifi a job at a place where they paint trucks. There, Saifi is harassed because others discriminate against his identification.

Saifi had an affair with another intersex, (played by Almas Bobby – who in real life is a transgender person).