When man desires something and gets it easily, he
wants more of it. As William Shakespeare said, desire of having is the sin of
covetousness that seems unending.
The Film “Man’s
Desire for Fifth Wife” was selected for the 44th IFFI under the category of
Cinema of the World (CW) and was screened in Goa on the 25th of November 2013.
The film “Man’s Desire for Fifth Wife” in Dari language of
Afghanistan is in many ways an apt example of this. Produced under the banner
of Altin Films, the film also poses several questions about male-dominated
society and values set centuries earlier that continue to exist.
But more than
anything else, this is notable because it is the first time that a film has
been made in that region by a crew that was headed by a woman associate
director.
This is a particularly important achievement since the film
was made in the orthodox Taliban territory where a woman can be stoned to death
if even an inch of her body becomes visible to anyone.
For Neelofer Shama who has until now been known for volumes
of work for Doordarshan, this was no mean achievement, and she is grateful to
the law enforcement authorities in that region that provided her full
protection as she went about unhindered with her work.
The 90-minute film (sub-titled in English) has been produced
by Sabruddin Rahmani, Murad Hamidi, and Farid Yarash, the film’s casting
director was Sediq Abedi who was the story writer as well as the main star with
Shakhnaza Jabirwa. The Associate Director was Neelofer Shama while the
cinematographer was Ramesh Nath. The background music of the film has been
composed by Ravindra Jain, while the production design was by Sanjay Bhan. The
costume designers were Hayatullah Alamyar and Emam Berdihof. The editing of the
film was done in N S Studio in Delhi while the film was processed at Adlabs and
sound was handled on Dolby 7.5 by Empire Studio.
Neelofer says she and
her crew had been invited to Tajikistan to make five documentaries there.
During this visit, she met the Afghan producer who invited her to shoot a
feature film in Afghanistan.
Thus “A Man’s Desire
for Fifth Wife” has become the first production after India’s independence to
have been made by private filmmakers from both countries.
Along with a nine-member
crew, Neelofer shot the film in 42 days in Fariyab which is Taliban territory.
She is grateful to producer Sabruddin Rahmani who provided the security
personnel so that she could shoot without any fear.
Since local traditions do not allow young women to act, most
of the ten women in the film are from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and only aged
women are from Afghanistan, Neelofer revealed, adding that the main actress was
from Afghanistan but emigrated from the country after the film was completed. The
crew also had artistes from Russia and Canada. She also said she could see many
local women watching her enviously from a distance
The film has already been screened to a full house at the
Boston International Film Festival in April this year.
She is also overwhelmed by the reception the film received
at a press meet in Kabul in the presence of General Latif who heads the film
department in Afghanistan.
The story of the film based in a village in north
Afghanistan revolves around the centuries-old culture which allows a man to
have up to four wives. But the twist comes when a man wants to get married for
the fifth time and attempts to force a young woman who loves someone else to
marry him. The climax comes in a match of the traditional wrestling match
"Buzkashi or Oghlak" using thousands of horses.
Encouraged by the love she received from Afghans, Neelofer
hopes this will lead to more Indo-Afghan collaborations.
Neelofer Shama has distinguished herself in the world of
films and television with an unusually large bouquet of trailblazing serials
and documentaries. Starting as early as in 1987, she was one of the pioneers
among Independent television producers who shone on the horizon of audio-visual
media via Doordarshan.
During her creative journey as director and producer
spanning over a period of more than two decades now, she received many laurels
and accolades nationally as well internationally. Her documentaries on
countries like Tajikistan and Afghanistan with an in-depth analysis of economy,
culture and lifestyle of these countries have received great critical acclaim.
She began her career as television producer in 1987 with the
making of a documentary film on the unusual historical subject of “Harwan
excavations and Avantisvara temple”. Soon after, she made a 90-minute telefilm,
“Haadsa (The Accident)”.
She has made over 100
episodes of different creative works for Doordarshan, All India Radio, various
Central Ministries, Indira Gandhi National Open University, advertising
agencies, and so on, besides making works based on novels by renowned
award-winning authors like Amrita Pritam, Indira Goswami and Kartar Singh
Duggal.
