The non-linear narrative, which jumps between the 1970s (the railway’s golden age) and the present (its decay), creates a melancholic temporality. This structure rejects the progressive teleology of nation-building films, instead suggesting that Pakistan’s future is permanently haunted by a past it has failed to learn from.
The character of Allah Rakha’s younger son, Ehsanullah (played by Shaz Khan), represents the educated, urbanized Pakistani who has internalized colonial and Punjabi-centric biases. His initial disdain for the “backward” railway town contrasts with his father’s rooted dignity. The film’s central conflict—Ehsanullah’s desire to sell the family land to a corrupt mining corporation versus Allah Rakha’s commitment to the railway—stages a debate between neoliberal assimilation and indigenous resistance. mx movie
Central to Moor is the Zhob Valley Railway, a narrow-gauge track winding through the Sulaiman Mountains. Film scholar Akbar Nasir Khan (2017) notes that the railway in Pakistani cinema has historically symbolized progress and unity. However, Mahmood inverts this trope. The dilapidated tracks, frequent derailments, and the planned closure of the railway station mirror the decay of state institutions in post-9/11 Pakistan. The non-linear narrative, which jumps between the 1970s