Safia/Safdar, starring Naseeruddin Shah and Kanwaljit, to begin streaming on this date

On Tuesday, ZEE5 announced the OTT premiere date for Safia/Safdar, a coming-of-age drama that stars Kanwaljit and Naseeruddin Shah, among others, in the primary cast. The film will begin streaming on Friday, January 16.

Safia/Safdar is directed by renowned cinematographer Baba Azmi, who has worked on many popular films in the 80s and 90s like Dil, Mr India, Pukar, Akele Hum Akele Tum, and more. 

The film also features Aditi Subedi in the lead cast, who plays the protagonist. Aditi was also recently seen in third season of the popular series Delhi Crime.

While the makers haven’t revealed any details about the film’s storyline, Safia/Safdar promises to be a story of a young girl who is battling with the society for her identity, and who has the support of her middle-class family in the arduous journey.  The film is being produced jointly by Baba Azmi and Namrata Goyal under the banners of Filmstoc and Azmi Pictures. Umesh Kumar Bansal too is onboard as a producer.

Mir Ali Husain is the scriptwriter for Safia/Safdar. Ripul Sharma has composed music for the film. Art direction is by Parvindar Singh. Thomas A Xavier is the cinematographer. The ensemble cast includes Irrfan Jaffer, Shivi Bajpai, Siddharth Menon, Mehrin Saba, and Neetu Pandey. 

Safia/Safdar was also the official selection at the 16th edition of Chicago South Asian Film Festival held in 2025.