7th December 2010, Islamic New Year. Midday on the back streets of
London, Farah Khan and her older brother Rizwan Khan are running with
fear.
Farah, a 15 year old teenage girl, lives on council high-rise in
Hounslow. She lives with her mother Razia and older brother Raizwan.
Disinterested and friendless from the world around her, Farah finds
comfort in her religion, Islam, and is usually found in the peace of
her small, deteriorating room. On the way home from school she is
shouted abuse at for the way she looks and dressed. She is chased away
and runs to her mosque. She finds herself in a class with people of
around her age being taught an extremist take on the Qu’ran’s messages
to Muslims, although she does not know this at the time. She returns to
the class again and again and is starting to participate in
discussions. Farah is banned from going to the class by her mother, but
she continues to read up. She had grown to have friends at this class
and becomes involved with the extremist group and their actions. They
have a common meeting place at the old disused flat on the other side
of Farah’s estate. Within the group she becomes very close with one
member of the group, Saleem. She grows to have a relationship with him.
He misuses this trust and persuades her that she needs to take action
against the racists and that she should fight against the group. She
just can’t bring herself to do such an action, she has been taught that
women should not become involved in the sacrifice or fighting for the
Islamic faith. She starts to ask her brother, convince him it’s the
right thing to do. She persuades him to do it. She finds Saleem drunk
when she goes to tell him about the plan. He forces her into losing her
virginity. In the morning she returns to her room, crying she figures
she has lead away from her religion. She goes to stop her brother from
detonating a bomb. She runs after him, and we return to the opening
scene.
