Donkey in Lahore

By Shahana Dattagupta

Donkey in Lahore is a documentary about a very unlikely love across cultural, religious and geographic borders as far apart as you could imagine … yes, Australia and Pakistan! A love across continents! While this is a documentary, it takes on somewhat of a reality-TV flair because the narrator, whom one never sees but hears, voyeuristically follows the development of this love-story in real-time.

Brian, a Goth puppeteer raised in a vagabond lifestyle by itinerant parents who suddenly turned Christian, makes his way to Pakistan for a puppet show. There he meets and falls instantly in love with Amber, who he thinks embodies all the “values” he has lived by all his life! Amber returns his feelings, but in the characteristically austere, reticent and matter-of-fact manner one might see in one’s parents’ generation. Brian returns to Australia and is so consumed by his love for Amber, as well as for the Pakistani way of life that he converts to Islam and is re-born as Aamir. Aamir’s Christian parents and openly gay sister are taken by surprise but are good-naturedly accepting of his new ways - name, prayer cap, teetotaler vow and all.

When Aamir returns to Pakistan with hopes of reuniting with Amber, her family places several conditions for his marriage to her. After months of struggle in Australia to fulfill these financial obligations, he travels yet again to Pakistan, now determined to marry Amber. Will Aamir’s faith and determination see him through the struggles, and melt the hearts of Amber’s family? Will they allow their little girl to travel across several seas to be with a strange, white man? Can a marriage between Aamir and Amber even be sustained through such vast differences in cultural background, lifestyle and expectations?

Come watch Donkey in Lahore to find out! And who’s the Donkey in Lahore? Is it Aamir we’re talking about? No, it’s the new, endearing puppet character he creates for the streets and television of Pakistan!


Shahana Dattagupta is a Seattle-based architectural designer, visual artist, classical vocalist, stage actor and writer. She has written and performed in Tasveer’s production of Yoni ki Baat in 2007 and 2008.