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Journalism of Courage
Had Franco-Afghan writer Atiq Rahimis unfulfilled project been made,it would have talked about a peaceful Afghanistan ,an Afghanistan before the Soviet War and the Taliban. It would have also talked about Kolkata of heydays,a city where people from different corners of the sub-continent came to fulfill their dreams. The project would have also been one writers tribute to another. But Rahimis film adaptation of Rabindranath Tagores short story Kabuliwallah,was not meant to be. The project has been shelved indefinitely. I had come down here for location scouting too,but now I dont know whether it will be ever made. It pains me to talk about it, says the author who was in the city to launch the Bengali version of his French novel Syngue Sabour.
I wanted to show Afghanistan before the Soviet war in the film because that is largely a forgotten period in modern Afghan history. For many people in the West,Afghanistan is synonymous with the Soviet war and the Taliban. I wanted to remind people that Afghans had managed to live in peaceful anonymity for decades,that the history of the Afghans in the twentieth century has been largely pacific and harmonious, says the Afghan writer who had to take refuge in France following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
His experiences are reflected in his books which provide astute depictions of his country without being overtly sentimental. In his latest book Syngue Sabour,he talks about the grievance of one woman which is,as Rahimis contemporary Khaled Hosseini says,is a proxy of millions. Before the Taliban,women were a vital part of the economy in Kabul . They worked as lawyers,physicians,college professors,etc.,which makes the tragedy of how they were treated by the Taliban that much more painful, Rahimi.
Thats probably why Rahimis books have a strong,emphatic feminine voice. I have a feminine side to me, he laughs. But there is a rejoinder. Coming from the background that I come from,I cant help but write about women. After all,they are the first victims of a war, he says.
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