Says Rahat Kazmi of the film that is set again in Kashmir, `Rabbi is a satirical narration that tugs at your heartstrings, dealing with the clash of ideologies of the liberal, educated, modern Muslims and their conservative counterparts. The film focuses on love towards God instead of fear. I know I will raise more than few eyebrows, but filmmaking is all about making your voice heard, just the way I did in Mantostaan with my cinematic representation of Saadat Hasan Manto's controversial stories weaved into a tale of the searing pain of the partition and the burning hearts that were torn apart by the line drawn across India slicing it into India and Pakistan.`
Coming back to Rabbi, the film is the story of the rise and fall of a young musician essayed by fresh face Furqan Merchant and Bidita Bag (of Babumoshai Bandookbaaz fame), and touches a chord with Rahat's own upbringing in a family of Sufis and his own experiences and the stand that he chooses to take in life.
Apart from Furqan Merchant and Bidita Bag in the lead roles, the film stars Raghubir Yadav, Dolly Ahluwalia, Brijendra Kala, Virendra Saxena, Shoib Nikash Shah, Manini Mishra, Pooja Gupta among others. Sanjay Amar is the writer. Rabbi is produced by Rahat Kazmi, Zeba Sajid and Sanjay Amar, co-produced by Tariq Khan in association with Mediamark International Corp. Canada, with Zahid Qureshi as Line Producer. Rabbi is presented by Jitesh Kumar Films & Mujeeb-Ul-Hasan of UFI Productions.
Rabbi has already won four awards including Best Director & Critics' Choice at Rajasthan International Film Festival and is expected to raise a voice on the tenets of Islam, in terms of music that are misrepresented by a few of its followers.
Rabbi is all set to release on 15th September, 2017.
