PUBLISHED November 30, 2025
Before we move on to the actual proposal, I would love to continue 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 we reviewed, is stated 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 adventure has been directed by 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 story of Roya Mahboob, a daring Afghan businesswoman, and her students. The iconoclastic role of Roya has been wonderfully played by Nikohl Boosheri in the film. Under the supportive, courageous and revolutionary leadership of Roya Mahboob, these young women form the Afghan robotics team “Dreamers”, breaking all socio-cultural confinements and jumping all political obstacles to cross the threshold into the global robotics arena. It is pertinent to mention here that this film has no connection with a novel of the same title written by Preeti Shenoy, which deals with the breaking of rules by an Indian woman in an Indian setting.
Roya was actually born in Herat, Afghanistan, and founded and serves as CEO of Afghan Citadel Software Company, a full-service software development company based in her hometown. She rose to prominence when she embarked on and ran a major 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.
When the curtain rises, we meet Roya as a teacher in a classroom, during a period from 2017 to 2019-20, an era marked by severe taboos, restrictions and suffocation for women in terms of sociocultural, educational and civic freedoms and development in Afghanistan. She remembers her past when she herself studied as a young student; He had the ambition to learn about computing, technology and other sciences. Unfortunately, when the instructor began instructing the students on the use of newly acquired computers and smart devices, all female students, including Roya, were ordered to leave the classroom. It was not simply a denial of one’s birthright to learn and grow, but a pure insult, alienation and disappointment to half the population of Afghanistan, as well as to global society. In the next scene, she is shown desperately looking through the window panes to learn something in a desperate situation, but with dedication and conviction.
After a reasonable amount of time, we meet Roya as a young woman and college student. Following her eagerness to learn and search, she makes a deal with a thoughtful cafe owner named Nassar Memarzia: she will teach him how to use all the functions of the computer equipment she has purchased for her male clients if he allows her to practice on it every morning before normal business hours. After practicing and exploring technology and its related perspectives for a short period of time, she emerges as an expert in the field of computer science and information technology. To further advance, she founds her own startup software company and then founds a computer training institute for girls. While she dreams of giving her students everything that she herself appreciates and longs for, she works intelligently and industriously and continues to achieve her goals more and more. She is encouraged when she realizes that the girls’ interest in education and training is much deeper than she expected. When she decides to form an all-female robotics team and asks for four participants, many girls reach out and contact her.
Naturally, when you want to achieve something great or do something extraordinary, you have to face great adversity and difficulties. So, Roya and her students have to fight hard and overcome several obstacles. Almost all girls have to face sheer resistance and discontent from their parents and families when they express their ambitions to participate in world competitions. However, Roya proves to be as convincing as she is steadfast, as exemplified in one of the film’s best scenes, in which she is portrayed as a mature and experienced person as she convinces a skeptical father to allow his daughter to follow his vision and make her long-cherished dreams come true.
The hot winds do not stop here and conflicts continue even after all team members demonstrate their faith, resolve and mettle. When traveling from Afghanistan to the United States to participate in a competition, girls are denied visas for reasons such as having recently traveled to Iran to visit a family member. After Roya appeals to a sympathetic American journalist to write about her plight, the story becomes an international media sensation. Even then, traveling at the last minute, they almost can’t catch a sold-out flight until several people volunteer to give up their seats. The following presentation outline takes viewers deeper into the lives of the girls, who continue to face sociopolitical and cultural pressures. For example, after a competition, girls enthusiastically sign the t-shirts of competing male groups and get their own in return, leading to embarrassment from their families and violent threats from the Taliban.
The script’s credit list includes, along with Bill Guttentag himself, Elaha Mahboob (the real-life character and crew member) as a writer, suggesting the direct involvement of real people in the transmission of the story. Guttentag selected a young and talented cast for the film, and this move added color to the project. Nikohl Boosheri, who played the lead role, did justice to her performance by conveying depth and power to her character as an inspiring teacher and guiding force behind her young robotics team. He previously starred in The Bold Type and Circumstance. Ali Fazal also played his character well. Being an acclaimed artist recognized for his performances in Victoria & Abdul and Kandahar, he is appreciated in the Hollywood and Bollywood film industries. Fahim Fazli, who has carved a niche for himself after playing admirable roles in films like 12 Strong and Iron Man, also added weight to this venture based on his reputation as a seasoned actor and real-life advocate for humanity and Afghan-American socio-cultural ties. Other actors, including Noorin Gulamgaus, Amber Afzali, Nina Hosseinzadeh, Sara Malal Rowe and Mariam Saraj, contributed with skill and passion to making the project an artistic success.
One of the substantial features of Rule Breakers is its empowering theme that stimulates the fight for women’s emancipation, freedom and humanity. The entire texture of the track is drenched in inspiration, representation and elevation of female voices. As it focuses exclusively on the plight of girls residing in Afghanistan who are involved in 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 Afghan environment. Marilyn Monroe once said, “If I had followed all the rules, I would never have gotten anywhere.”
From a critical point of view, the film is somewhat chaotic in its narrative pattern, plot development and structural characteristics. There are some unnatural timelines for certain heroic adventures or character development phases, as well as abrupt transitions to completely transformed life stages. Additionally, the film’s pacing has hiccups, making it difficult for viewers to pay attention to the imagined emotional beats.
Furthermore, it is surprisingly unfortunate to see that the film has been released only in the United States, Canada, South Africa and Sri Lanka, leaving out the entire world. Furthermore, these four countries and societies hardly need such didactic or revolutionary initiatives to identify this story with their culture or to repair their traditions in light of this daring and true story of the future iconoclastic girls. Since the story gives visibility to young women who are scientists, innovators and problem solvers in a challenging environment, it should have been prioritized in third world countries and backward societies.
To conclude, taking into account all the pros and cons of this cinematic adventure, a film with both documentary and dramatic features, we can safely say that it is a great step forward in terms of promoting “Art for the Sake of Life”. It is a moving and thought-provoking story that, despite some flaws in characterization and plot development, still conveys its didactic purpose through a memorable story with roots in real life.
The writer is a journalist, author and literary critic. You can contact him at [email protected]
All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the writer.
