Interview: Faqir Nabi
Director: Mariam Ghani; Cinematographer: Mariam Ghani
Duration: 00:34:29; Aspect Ratio: 1.778:1; Hue: 347.973; Saturation: 0.044; Lightness: 0.548; Volume: 0.291; Cuts per Minute: 0.087; Words per Minute: 148.084
Well
Thank you for giving your time to us
So that we could come to you today
So that we have some conversation with you
I want to ask you questions particularly about the "Suqoot" film
When did you start making the "Suqoot" film?
If you can recall exactly in which year did it happen
I think I started making of "Suqoot" film in 1990, it was 1990 or maybe 1989 that it started
And this film was shot at color tapes
And Afghan Film was financing this film
In this film Adela Adiem, Farid Faiz and other artists like Qadir Farrukh and other artists have played roles
Well
The work of film was in a very good progress
Almost more than 50 % filming was completed
But unfortunately some problems came up in regard with the budget of the film
The film got delayed a bit
Till the time that in 1992 we wanted to resume shooting of the film
Do you remember the exact date when you stopped shooting of the film, i.e. the shooting was going on and then you stopped working on it
Sir, don't make mistake on date as in 1992 Mujahideen were ruling Afghanistan
1991, I think that was the time because in 1992 I went and became a refugee
Afghanistan's political situation changed
That means that film was shot more than 50 %
And the political situation of Afghanistan changed
and Dr. Najib's government had a fall
the situation had become very bad; in the beginning in Afghanistan, in Kabul situation became very bad
and I and my family did not see the situation very suitable for us
I left Afghanistan and went to India as I had earlier done my education in field of cinema and had completed my college in history and psychology there
I had knowledge about Indian cinema, so I went to India
and the film remained half done due to the same problem and issue
We could not work and even the artists, the artists playing the main roles like Farid Faiz and Adela Adeim had left and gone to the foreign countries and became refugees there
When I returned from India after 20 years in 2010
Afghan film once, at that time Engineer Latif was the director of Afghan Film
he told me that what is your decision about "Suqoot" film which is half done
I told him I do not have any decision on it as of now because neither the artists are in Afghanistan so that I could complete the film and nor do I have that working atmosphere for the film which was there at that time
and those locations and places where I have shot the film, those locations should be there for continuation of film and they are also not there and they are not available in that form
I think that shooting of the film is totally impossible
excuse me, by whom was the film stopped, I mean at that time when you stopped the film, whether it was by the government, by the Afghan Film or you didn't want to continue with it yourself
This film was not stopped by the government or Afghan Film; the political situation changed suddenly
The new situation that came up
The new and recent situation that was there at that time, the situation was not as suitable that filmmakers could make films in that
All filmmakers stopped all the work that they had
They could not make films
and since the situation got worse, most of the artists escaped, they became refugees out of the country
This was the basic reason for stopping of the film i.e. the political situation of Afghanistan
In which year approximately did this happen?
I think it was end of 1991 or 92. I don't remember exactly which year that was, but I remember this much that I migrated in 1992
in the beginning of 1992
Some Afghans asked me, but the situation for working on film was not favorable and artists were not available, it was not possible to have restarted the shoot
Yes, I told Engineer Latif that I am ready to edit the parts of the film which are already shot
and let's see what would be the outcome of it after the edit and montage
Well, of course Engineer Latif also gave his consent for it, but the opportunity to work in Afghan Film was not available for me
so that I should have edited the part that has been shot, for them
That working opportunity was not available
Then I also gave up or as we say it in general language I scratched behind my ear and went away
This occasion in the film
this is the last film among the films that I have made in Afghanistan, the films that I have made or worked in as an artist in India
In Afghanistan, this was my last film
What was the story of your film about? Can you say something about it?
The story of "Suqoot" film was about a smugglers' band
that beside drug trafficking, they smuggle arms and weapons as well
they hide them, plant bombs in some places and use those weapons in some places against people
but a very beautiful romance was also there in the film
Besides the social and political subject, a very beautiful and natural romance was placed in this film
this was between Farid Faiz and Adela Adeim that as per local language they were hero and heroine of the film
This romance develops between these two and a number of family problems also develop in this
finally this boy faces a destiny where he joins these smugglers obliviously
Later on when he feels that he is going towards a very wrong direction
Then lots of controversies take place for correction of his fault
he also struggles too to drag himself out of this abyss of annihilation
This was overall the story of "Suqoot" film
and I do not remember the story with details at present as lots of years have passed since then and story with details is
during this period I have not seen its script even
What was important at that time for you, i.e. what was the reason that you wanted to make that film at that time; the situation that you had then, what happened then or what came in to your mind that you decided to make such a film, of course at that time
That time it was during the government of respected Dr. Najib
It was a good period for cinema
firstly, this was one reason that we should continue with making films
not only me but other filmmakers such as Engineer Latif, Siddiq Barmak, Saied Orekzai
we should continue with cinema and work related to cinema
we would get encouraged also and it was our own love and interest to this field and also government would fund us financially and with material for making films
but government was also trying at that time that films should represent the politics of governments of that period of time up to some extend
but we would mostly try our best that despite the politics we should put artistic aspect also to a film
and
the story that I had for "Suqoot" film in the beginning, when I read its scenario
It was a very beautiful scenario. I am sorry that I don't remember the details, but as much as I remember, it had a very beautiful scenario
It was a scenario where despite the fact that a battle was going on against smuggling bands within this story
besides that a romance was there in the film; cinematic conflicts and dramas were also existing at that time
If that film could have been completed, in my opinion that would have been a very good art film
but unfortunately; unfortunately it didn't happen
Who all have worked with you in this film, in the sense that who was the cameraman; who was the light man; who was script writer; do you overall remember anyone from your teammates?
I think our cameraman was from Afghan Film, Mr. Hussaini... I have forgotten his full name
He was one of the best cameramen of Afghan Film that his film was... I made another film prior to this one titles "Rad e Pa" (Footprint), he was the cameraman for that one also
Unfortunately during the last 20 years that I wasn't there, people had changed title of the film; whoever has changed it, has done it on his/her own and renamed it as "Dastkash" (Gloves)
That film was a criminal film
Criminal suspense
Mr. Hussaini, Sayed Maujood; Mr. Sayed Maujood was the cameraman as I told you earlier
Adela Adeim was a famous actress of that time, she was playing the main role of the heroine
And Farid Faiz who had worked in several films with respected Engineer Latif and me, was also hero of my film "Rad e Pa"
Now the hero of film was like Qadir Farrukh who is one of the prominent heroes of Afghanistan, he was also working in that film
and edit took place by Qadeer Rashidi if I am not making a mistake, or maybe Hakim Marzi; I don't know as I have forgotten it, a long time has passed from then
He was one of the members of Afghan Film and it had to be edited by Afghan Film
but process of film (please correct here, he says washing of film and I don't know the exact term for it - translator's note) was supposed to be done abroad because the film was color and we do not have laboratory for color films in Afghanistan; it was needed that the cinematic films should be washed and printed and all
well, anyways
Do you remember the scriptwriter?
Pardon
The person who had written the script
Well, in script I was also a partner in writing the script
You may continue, please
In some films, for instance if film goes ahead step by step, dubbing is also done step by step
so that it should be washed and printed and gets ready for release
so that a person starts dubbing it
but since this one was a color film, it should have gone abroad, being washed and returned back; after that it would have been printed and then after print when it would have been ready
after that dubbing takes place because you must put the print on screen, and the artist sees his/her face; put it on in projector on the screen; he/she sees and then does the dubbing
because the sync should be proper
no, film had not reached the stage of dubbing or retain; not yet reached these stages; film was only shot on the negative
Even the material was not printed positively
Well, you tell us about your experiences about filmmaking, particularly about the shoot of this film, what interesting memories do you have? What experiences did you have, etc.?
filmmaking... I must tell you that cinema is my profession. After that, I had interest in cinema from the time I was in school. At that time mostly Indian films were shown at cinemas in Afghanistan
and I had lots of interest in Indian and Iranian movies when I would take up job at that time
and from that time itself I was interested in cinema
Finally, somehow I satisfied my father, peace be upon him, he is deceased
I convinced him to send me to India with his personal expenses and I got admission in Pune Film Institute
I studied acting there and after that I worked as fourth assistant with Mr. Raj Kapoor for the film "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" and worked with him for almost one year
I am grateful to Mr. Raj Kapoor in field of direction as I have learned lots of things from him
after that when I came to Afghanistan, the first film that I worked in as a hero was "Sia Mo wa Jalali" that I had the lead role in it
Later on it was "Akhtar e Maskhara" (Akhtar the joker) film in which I have played the role of Akhtar e Maskhara
and later on it was "Gunah" (Sin) film in which I have played the role of a painter, father of Salam Sangi
there was another tv film titled "Zan" (Woman), I have played the role of a boy from Kabul named Sattar
Well, besides the roles that I have played, I have first
There was another film in which you played a role in the name of "Kujrah", in this film you have worked on screen as well as behind the screen - "Kujrah"
Maybe; maybe, I don't remember
The first film that I made was a film by TV and Afghan Film named "Dukhtare ba Pirahan e Safed" (a girl with white dress); after that I made another film named "Sarband"; then I made another film titled "Dehkada e man"; then I made another film titled "Nukta e Nairangi"
After that the first film that I made together with Afghan Film was titled "Suqoot e Mahasera" (fall of seige), after that "Rad e Pa" (Footprint) or now known as "Dastkash" (Glove)
Then it was "Suqoot" (collapse), I made the film "Suqoot" which was left half done and is still incomplete
And again coming to the abnormal political situation of Afghanistan, the situation that I told you earlier about it occured and I went to India as I had earlier studied there and had classmates like Shakti Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah and all and I knew about the cinema of Mumbai
There I first started working as an artist, if I am not telling the lie, I worked there in almost more than 32 -33 films and serials including small roles and lead roles in serials in India during these 20 years
and there was a serial titled "Shaktimaan", I have directed around 200 plus episodes of this serial
there was another serial titled "Harima", another serial titled "Wanted", I have directed these and have played roles in them
specially I have played main roles in a series of films called as "Zee Horror", it was called "Zee Horror Show" and I used to play the role of a wizard or a demon in that or the role of a jinni that comes out of a bottle
they would paint me green from head to toe for that
they were very successful roles, for example I played a role in "Shaktimaan" serial, it was a main negative role named Kapala
this character became very famous in India
well, after that I came back to Afghanistan in 2010, and again since I have love and interest with this work, it has been more than 43 years that I have been working in this field, I did not give up my field of work
when I came here, I had a project with TV1 about drug trafficking, it was a .... (not clear) project. I completed that and returned it to them
A film titled "Bazi Sarnawesht" (Destiny's game), I have played the main role of father in that, direction of this film is done by respected Dr. Malik Mehdi
and after that I have played a role in a serial called "Kocha e Ma" (Our street); a role of a person who has lost his child due to war and has lost his mental balance due to that incident so he switches to being normal and abnormal. I played this role
And after that I had collaboration with Arezo TV. I made some special programs for them for Eid, made some dramas for them
and I wanted to make a serial for them titled "Mr. Mullah Nasruddin", in which I wanted to include stories about Mullah Nasruddin himself, but unfortunately more working opportunity was not available for me and I left that place
At present I am unemployed and am at home; and am working on writing some scenarios
But you did not tell us if you had any interesting memories from the time of shooting of "Suqoot" film
No, I don't remember anything about "Suqoot"
But I have an interesting memory from "Akhtar e Maskhara"
In Akhtar e Maskhara I had a scene where they beat me up because I fell in love for the girl of this family
I am a poor and helpless person. That girl is daughter of a rich man
when her brother gets to know about this, he ties me with a tree and batters me and I develop a grudge against them
and in the night I go to one of the streets in Deh Afghanan - Kabul which is known as Qasab Kocha (butchers' street) and drink plastic liquor in that scene which is filled in plastic bags
obviously that is not liquor, it is water, but we show that I am drinking liquor
and my grudge comes out
and I start crying; at that time the director of film Engineer Latif notices and I also notice that a dog comes and sits quietly next to me
and I also reach there by sliding myself and sit near the butcher's log and keep crying
I am crying and while crying I look at dog and see that dog is also crying
Immediately Engineer Latif takes a shot of that dog and that shot is there in the film
Me, this impression remained always there with me as a lasting memory that I could not realize what that dog had felt that it sat in front of me and cried together with me, this is one thing
my another interesting memory is that I am in the house of the same rich family who are making me a clown as they want to laugh
I play the role of a monkey there
and the monkey that they have brought, first they show the monkey dancing; later on the owner of that monkey holds the monkey and I copy and the same movements
And every second that I look at monkey, it growls and
at the end when I hold the bowl of begging; as you might have seen the monkey and their handlers in Kabul, at the end of show the handler gives a bowl to monkey which it takes to every person and people put some wheat flour or money or something in it
I take this bowl and go to every one; this monkey shouts loudly and growls
and all of them started laughing badly including every one in unit from cameraman to each and every person
I said "what happened; why?"
I told them nothing has happened; monkey noticed that I am now kicking in its stomach (taking over its earnings), I am begging something which the monkey was supposed to, so it is jealous, that is why it was shouting
I have another memory from this thing... Gunah movie
I am playing role of a painter and father of Sangi
The memory is so, I am crossing the road drowned in my sorrows
One car comes and hits me
Farid Faiz is driving the car, it is a Benz car. He was told to be cautious, come with a speed, just hit him slightly and he will take action on his own
Camera was above, it was on the top; camera is on the top, the car comes
It hits me; it hits me slightly, since I was a gymnastic person at a time when I used to work at Pune institute
I jump high, then roll over and fall down on the road
Cameraman screams and leaves the camera, but luckily he doesn't switch off the camera
He runs, people also run, every one thinks the car has really hit me and I have died
All are worried; when they come above my head, I get up, laugh and tell them no accident has happened, I jumped myself
This is also one of memories from my working days
You told us during your chat that sometimes you have worked in a film and directed a film as well
Was it happened so that you have been a director and actor in the same film?
Yes
When what? Tell us about your those experiences, like how was it when you were doing two things in one film i.e. directing the film as well as acting in it, then what happened?
I think it is not a tough job, if someone is a professional director then this work is not difficult for him
For example, I will give you an example
You might have seen the serial "Qahwa e Talkh" (Bitter Coffee)
Hmm, not yet
Mehran Modiri is the director, but Mehran Modiri is playing the central role also
It is like this, director makes his shot schedule, he has his screen script in hand, his shots are specified, he prepared every thing
He balances his actors, he has a assistant with him, assistant director
He is behind the camera. He does everything with cooperation of cameraman. He manages things and director can simply play his role in front of the camera in case if we is an artist
Yes; yes
How do you see the situation of Afghanistan's cinema in total at that time? How was the situation of Afghanistan's cinema at that time; what things weren't there when you were there?
Situation of cinema at that time in total was so that we were facing lack of technical equipments and low budget
I can tell you in general that at that time we made films and made good films also
I think films of 60th decade were much better; not only films made by me but films that were made by Engineer Latif and other directors as well that even in today's era no one has so far succeeded to make such good films
At that time we were facing lack of equipments
It was the time when digital camera didn't exist
There was no light, no golden line; there were no cranes available, nothing, we didn't have these equipments
Secondly, we didn't have sufficient budget in hand. You know that infrastructure of a film relies on budget and it goes on with budget
and thirdly there was no security
in "Dukhtar e ba Pirahan Safed" (Girl with white dress) we were under siege, we were attacked, for two hours we were under attack in battle field, but with grace of god artists didn't get any harm and security forces came and rescued us.
We didn't have security. The security forces like national security, police of that period, national army of that period would help us and provide security to us
We would make films under such conditions. Why? Because we had love and passion for cinema
All of us
With this love and interest, this passion and enthusiasm we would even go to places for shooting where there would be a battle field next to us and fighting would go on
But whether they were females or males, or the women who would work in films, all of us would go together on trips to various provinces in order to make films
It was with sincerity, an interest; there was this thing also between us, I mean a competition was also going on and it was a healthy competition
For example if Sayed Orokzai would make a film like "Mard ha ra qawl ast" (Men keep their promise), I would make effort to make a better film than him like "Nuqta e Nairangi" (The key address)
Engineer Latif would make effort to make a better film than me and would make "Saboor e Sarbaz" (Saboor - the soldier)
Likewise Jawanshir Haideri, Moosa Radmanesh and other good directors of that era
This all caused that we could make good films at that time as our own efforts were involved in them
Right
That talent; as you know every filmmaker whether he is director or cameraman or whatever profession he has; he can not become a director or an artist if he doesn't have talent
Talent comes to a person, but that talent gets nurtured
This doesn't mean that a person goes and studies, he studies in lots of schools related to film and doesn't have the talent
When he returns, no matter as much stress as he takes still nothing can come out of that person
So based on this, briefly these were the reasons that we could make good films; we would not think much about money and monetary and these type of issues
How would you set up a film? How would you decide that you wanted to make a film? A film must have a group of people
How would you make that group and then how would you manage that?
There were two things. One was that as a director, I would get a very good story before me and that story would take over my heart
As I am a filmmaker, I would convert that story to an imaginary scenario
and I would go and sit next to a writer that he... like Bashir Loigar, Mr. Bashir Loigar, like in these days Dr. Malik Begi
These are the people that if I would work with them they could write very good and beautiful scenario from my ideas
Even dialogue writer for a film in the other part of the world is a different person but here the scenarist would write dialogues as well
Because we don't have; we don't have and are facing lack of things
Whenever it would attract us, this scenario, we would go and cast the artists who were appropriate for roles within the scenario
After that we would go and select the places, it is known as locations, the locations that fit the mentioned scenario
After that we would make artists practice up to some extend so that they become expert and we would talk about their charges; we would make our budget
Once we would make the film's budget, we would select the technical members like cameraman, we would see with whom we were more compatible
who can portrait our ideas in a better way; we would work with that cameraman, we would create a confidence between each other
Once the cameraman was finalized, we would select editor, sound recorder; we would select the person who makes background music; and overall we would select the people who would be our technical members
We would select the editor, at that time we would even select a person for dressing some times, but we didn't have designer who could design clothes for us
Whatever the director would imagine, the clothes would be made as per that imagination; whatever the director would imagine, he would convey that to editor and editor would work on basis of that
We had one editor in all... at that time we had only one editor and he was Najib Sultani
There were one or two others also, but didn't have that much access to editing as much Najib Sultani had and it is known as game, there were no other men who could do this
well, a unit would be formed like this; when a unit would be formed, then we would contact the then security forces through our department as it would become official through Afghan Film or National Television
We would contact them, then either national army or national security or national police of that time, one of these three forces would help us at that time
They would make sure for our security as there was fighting going on in Afghanistan, even most of the times they would provide boarding and lodging for us; they would provide transportation if we would go to provinces
and if we would take up a film and selection of our locations were in other provinces; like three of my films were shot in Jalalabad, one in Jauzjan; only Suqoot was shot in Kabul which was left incomplete
We would go there; entire unit would go for days and nights; we would remain there for 40 days, two months, one and a half months and would complete the film, it's shooting
then we would come back, if the film would be black and white, it would have been processed in Afghanistan in laboratory; after that it would be printed, then it was the dubbing stage; we would do the dubbing
once the dubbing was over, we would go, then the film would be rough cut; after rough cut it would be final cut
Then the background music would be made for it, effects were put in, so several channels would get mixed
then the final print would be ready; release print would come out and then after an assessment film would go to cinema for showing on screen
If it was good and would do business, director would put on weight
If it would not do business and was a bad film, then he would scratch at the back of his neck and would try to make a better film in future, but he would lose weight
Yes
Well, if now you get an opportunity, would you like to make the continuation of the mentioned film "Suqoot" at this time or to complete it, if you get a favorable opportunity?
No.
Because I think that the scenario of the film "Suqoot" which was written at that time was fit for situation of that time and a part of that was linked with political situation of that time
and that situation is not there at present
What if you want to bring a change in scenario?
If any changes occur in the scenario and only that romance story and some other dramas are added in that, yes why not I will do it
Put a cut here so that the reply to this question should be different; in my opinion it should be something else
One thing is the matter of situation and time; firstly the looks and figures have changed, the ages differ; if the film gets a scenario again, it should start from beginning
Yes, if it gets the scenario again
It should start from zero from beginning and if it has a supporter, some one who should support it
I will reply repeatedly. As I told you in the beginning that hero of film was Farid Faiz and heroine or female lead of the film is Adela Adeim, both of them are not available now in Afghanistan. This is one thing
the other thing is their age would have gone high in the past 25-30 years; if we shoot the film again, their age is gone bigger; their looks have changed and other changes are there
It is not possible to make the film with that school, that story, those artists, that previous unit
We must rewrite the scenario and should make it with today's situation and today's artists
So it is not necessary that... yes whatever was filmed, if they tell me, I can edit that for them
I will try if anything can come out from that much, but otherwise re-shooting of that film is not at all possible.
No, if the entire scenario changes, this scenario ...
If it gets re-written
If it is re-written, then you can work on it
Yes, new people and new unit if possible
Yes; yes, I will make it
There is no issue
Well, at the end if you have anything to say about cinema, about ...
At the end, as you came and interviewed me, I thank you
and
I hope your interviews with artists and directors, not only with directors and artists of past time but with current youth also continues so that they get encouraged
so that they could work
Surely, your experiences will encourage them a lot
and for today's youth my message is that whatever they do, it should be with efforts, with diligence and they should make the cinema with love and passion
and they should try to make good films, or they can do this to make films that match with the films of region
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