MARIYAM SHAKEELA: THE WEIGHT OF COMPASSION
Writing Kan’bulo was, from the very beginning, a study in contrasts — silence and screams, darkness and light, survival and surrender. Among the constellation of characters, there is one figure who quietly becomes the lighthouse in this storm: Zaheena, portrayed with absolute depth and dignity by the legendary Mariyam Shakeela.
What makes Zaheena essential to this story isn’t simply her relationship to the protagonist. It’s the emotional function she serves within the structure of the screenplay. She is the still point in a world spinning out of control. She is not reactive but grounded. Where others in the narrative waver, she holds steady — and in doing so, carries more emotional weight than she will ever speak aloud.
Shakeela brings to Zaheena a quiet ache beneath her strength, a heaviness in her presence that only seasoned actors can deliver with such restraint. It’s not what she says; it’s what she allows herself to carry between the lines. That is a difficult thing to write. It’s even harder to perform. Yet Shakeela moves through this role as though she’s been living with Zaheena’s quiet burden long before the cameras rolled.
Watching her in the dailies and the rough cut, I was struck by how often she anchors a scene without a single dramatic flourish. She listens. She absorbs. She reacts with precision. It’s a masterclass in subtext-driven performance. Her warmth isn’t soft — it’s forged from experience. Her compassion isn’t theatrical — it’s survival.
As a writer, Zaheena was always meant to symbolize hope, resilience, and the unseen cost of bearing witness to pain over time. Shakeela embodies this with a grace that elevates everyone who shares the frame with her.
Kan’bulo is a story about survival. But without Zaheena, it would lack the humanity that makes survival possible.
Kan’bulo is set to be released on 31 August 2025.
Mahdi Ahmed 
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