'The Koran doesn't say cinema is a bad thing'

In May 2005 when Afghan actor Salim Shaheen decided to take leave of his Indian friend filmmaker Sanjay Srinivas right outside the latterrsquos departing aircraft the security at the Kabul international airport let him sail through with a smile Once in the aircraft the actor simply informed the cabin crew that the filmmaker was a good friend of his and that they should take care of him Then he left In no time the Indian friend was upgraded to business class Afghan superstar Salim Shaheen was in Mumbai to invite celebrities from Bollywood for the Afghan National Cinema Festival Such is the star power respect and adulation that Shaheen actor producer director and writer of over 100 films commands in Afghanistan today You could easily dismiss his lowbudget lowonproductionvalue films whose stories remind you of rsquo70s and rsquo80s Bollywood potboilers but the fact remains that Shaheen is the oldest practitioner of the movies in a country where for the longest time films were banned for being unIslamic Last week Shaheen was in Mumbai to enlist help from Bollywood for the Afghan National Cinema Festival which will be held in Kabul shortly He was here to invite our film stars to attend the festival which will showcase films made in Afghanistan in the last decade after the Taliban regime came to an end in 2001 Shaheen hopes that the cinemas of the two nations will help foster close ties between the people of Afghanistan and India ldquoThe people in Afghanistan love Amitabh Bachchan Shah Rukh Khan Salman Khan and Dharmendra In fact Bollywood films fight for eyeballs with films made in Pashto and Darirdquo he declares bombastically in broken Hindi learned from the movies ldquoOh Emraan Hashmi ka picture aaya tha abhi Kabul meinrdquo the 40plus actor proudly reveals referring to a pirated version of Jannat 2 which released in a cinema hall there on the same day it released in India The adulation for movies seems natural when he shares that it was Bollywood filmstar Dharmendra who inspired Shaheen to become an actor 30 years ago ldquoI became an actor because of Dharmendra When I was a young boy I happened to see his film Samadhi 1972 aur main Dharma ji ki aashiq ho gayi sic I became a fan of Dharmendrardquo he says It was only seven years ago that Shaheen flew down to Mumbai to met his matinee idol Dharmendra Producerdirector Umesh Mehra helped organise the meeting Shaheenrsquos father helped producer FC Mehra Umesh Mehrarsquos father exhibit some of his films in Afghanistan in those days On most visits to India Shaheen manages to meet Dharmendra This time garam Dharam was out of town but Shaheen informs with great pride ldquoI was taken good care of and treated to a good meal by his manager Dharamji had called home to check up on merdquo And now his Facebook profile pic Yes Facebook has invaded Afghanistan too has him kissing Dharmendra on the cheek Shaheen first faced the camera at the age of nine and today is the owner of two film companies in Kabul and even runs a video library Obviously this three decadeold journey has not been easy ldquoBahut mushkil mein film banaya hai There were life threats from the Taliban to stop making films I have been injured several times and my equipment was destroyed Eight people in my company lost their lives in a rocket strikerdquo Even during the Russian invasion before the Taliban rule things werenrsquot easy for Shaheen ldquoThe Russians were very strict One could not make a film without proper permits And they dictated that films be made to their liking and termsrdquo He says Afghans are a cinemaloving people but you will hardly find women frequenting cinema halls ldquoThe only time women throng a cinema hall in hundreds is during a film premiere accompanied by men but these women belong to the upper echelons of society The rest rely on TV or watch it via DVDsrdquou00a0He informs that today approximately 12 films are made in Afghanistan annually three of which are produced by Shaheen himself Interestingly at one point Afghanistan boasted 25 cinema halls before the Taliban took over Today there are merely five cinema halls all of which exist in Kabul ldquoThe Taliban destroyed them and I donrsquot know why the government does not reconstruct them Many have been converted into hotels and shopsrdquo he laments Not to be put down for too long he bellows ldquoCinema meri jaan hai Why should I stop making films Itrsquos not mentioned in the Koran that cinema is a bad thing In fact cinema can serve as an educational tool for the country and could bring them closer to Allahrdquou00a0