PUBLISHED
November 30, 2025
Before switching on to the actual proposition, I would love to proceed with Mark Twain’s popular saying: “Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that makes you smile.”
“Rule Breakers”, the film under review, is claimed to be “based on the inspiring, true story of Afghanistan’s first all-female robotics team who defied the odds and fought for education and opportunity.” This dramatic venture has been directed by the Academy Award-winning director Bill Guttentag, who has a reputation for working on true and inspiring stories from around the world.
The film revolves around the true-inspired story of Roya Mahboob, an Afghan, daring female entrepreneur, and her students. The iconoclastic role of Roya has been marvellously played by Nikohl Boosheri in the film. Under the caring, courageous and revolutionary leadership of Roya Mahboob, these young girls form the Afghan “Dreamers” robotics team, shattering all sociocultural confinements and leaping over all political hurdles to cross the threshold of the global robotics arena. It is pertinent to mention here that this film does not have any connection with a novel with the same title authored by Preeti Shenoy, which deals with breaking rules by an Indian woman in an Indian setting.
Factually speaking, born in Herat, Afghanistan, Roya founded and serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Afghan Citadel Software Company, a full-service software development company based in her native city. She came into the limelight when she embarked on and headed a leading IT company in Afghanistan — a country where it is still quite exceptional for girls or women to even study, let alone work outside the home.
As the curtain rises, we come across Roya as a teacher in a classroom, during a period ranging from 2017 to 2019–20, an era marked by severe taboos, restrictions and suffocation for females in terms of sociocultural, educational and civic liberties and development in Afghanistan. She recalls her past when she herself was studying as a young student; she was ambitious to learn about computers, technology and other sciences. Unfortunately, when the instructor began instructing the students in using newly attained computers and smart gadgets, all the female students, including Roya, were ordered to leave the classroom. It was not merely a negation of the birth-right to learn and grow, but a sheer insult, alienation and disappointment for half of Afghanistan’s population as well as global society. In the next scene, she is presented desperately peeking in through the windowpanes to learn something in a desperate situation, yet with dedication and conviction.
After a reasonable span of time, we come across Roya as a young girl and a university student. Pursuing her lust for learning and seeking, she makes a deal with a considerate café owner named Nassar Memarzia: she will teach him how to use all the features of the computer equipment he has bought for his male customers if he allows her to practise on it every morning prior to the normal business hours. After practising and exploring the technology and its related vistas for a short span of time, she emerges as an expert in the realm of computer and information technology. Progressing further, she kicks off her own emerging software company and then goes on to establish a computer training institute for girls. As she dreams of providing her students with everything she herself cherished and longed for, she works smartly and laboriously and continues achieving her milestones further and further. She becomes encouraged when she realises that the interest of the girls in education and training is much deeper than she expected. When she resolves to form an all-girls robotics team and asks for four participants, many girls come forward and contact her.
Naturally speaking, when you wish to achieve something big or do something extraordinary, you have to cope with heavy odds and hardships. So, Roya and her trainees have to struggle hard and leap over various hurdles. Nearly all the girls have to face sheer resistance and displeasure from their parents and families when they express their ambitions to participate in global competitions. However, Roya proves as convincing as she is firm, as exemplified in one of the movie’s finest scenes, in which she is portrayed as a mature and seasoned person while convincing one sceptical father to allow his daughter to follow her vision and realise her long-cherished dreams.
The hot winds do not stop here, and conflicts continue even after all the team members demonstrate their faith, resolution and mettle. When travelling from Afghanistan to America to participate in a competition, the girls are denied visas for such reasons as having recently travelled to Iran to visit a relative. After Roya appeals to a sympathetic American journalist to write about their plight, the story becomes an international media sensation. Even then, travelling at the last minute, they are nearly unable to get on a sold-out flight until several people volunteer to give up their seats. The subsequent scheme of presentation takes the viewers further into the lives of the girls, who continue facing socio-political and cultural pressures. For example, after one competition, the girls enthusiastically sign the shirts of competing male troupes and get theirs signed in return, leading to shaming by their relatives and violent threats from the Taliban.
The screenplay credits list includes, along with Bill Guttentag himself, Elaha Mahboob (the real-life character and a member of the team) as a writer, suggesting direct involvement of the actual people in conveying the story. Guttentag selected a young and talented cast for the film, and this move added colours to the project. Nikohl Boosheri, who played the leading role, did justice to her performance by conveying profundity and power to her character as an inspirational teacher and guiding force behind her young robotics team. She has previously acted in The Bold Type and Circumstance. Ali Fazal also performed his character well. Being an acclaimed artist recognised for his performances in Victoria & Abdul and Kandahar, he is appreciated in both Hollywood and Bollywood film industries. Fahim Fazli, who has made his niche after playing admirable roles in films like 12 Strong and Iron Man, also added weight to this venture on the basis of his reputation as an experienced actor and a real-life vindicator of humanity and Afghan-American sociocultural ties. Other actors including Noorin Gulamgaus, Amber Afzali, Nina Hosseinzadeh, Sara Malal Rowe and Mariam Saraj contributed skilfully and passionately to making the project an artistic success.
One of the substantial features of Rule Breakers is its empowering theme that spurs the struggle for women’s emancipation, liberty and humanity. The whole texture of the theme is soaked in inspiration, representation and the raising of female voices. As it focuses exclusively on the plight of girls residing in Afghanistan who are pursuing technology, science and robotics, it provides a niche for iconoclastic approaches and brainstorming. Studying robotics or yearning for higher education is a narrative not often appreciated in a typical Afghani setting. Once Marilyn Monroe said, “If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere.”
Critically speaking, the film proves somewhat chaotic in its storytelling pattern, plot development and structural features. There are some unnatural timelines for certain heroic adventures or phases of character development, as well as abrupt transitions into entirely transformed stages of life. Moreover, the pacing of the film has hiccups, making it challenging for the viewers to keep an eye on the envisioned emotive beats.
Besides, it is surprisingly unfortunate to see that the film has been released only in the US, Canada, South Africa and Sri Lanka, leaving aside the whole world. Moreover, these four countries and societies hardly need such didactic or revolutionary ventures to identify this story with their culture or to mend their traditions in the light of this daring, true story of future iconoclastic girls. As the story gives visibility to young women who are scientists, innovators and problem-solvers in a challenging environment, it ought to have been prioritised in third-world countries and backward societies.
To wind up, keeping in view all the pros and cons of this cinematic venture — a film with both documentary and drama features—we can safely opine that it is a great leap forward in terms of promoting“Art for the sake of Life”. It is a moving and though-provoking story that, in spite of a few lapses in characterisation and plot development, still conveys its didactic purpose through a memorable tale with roots in real life.
The writer is a journalist, author and literary critic. He can be reached at muttahirahmedkhan@gmail.com
All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the writer
