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Bollywood or bust

Shelina Begum
1/ 3/2002

TWO pharmacists are trading places for a new career in the Bollywood film industry.

Abdul Hafiz and Afzal Khan have already lined up some of Bollywood's top directors, stars and musicians for their film "Mulk - the Battle of the Gods".

Both Abdul and Afzal own a string of chemists in the North of England but a mutual love of the movies made them decide to set up their own production company - Paragon Pictures - and invest more than £500,000 of their own money to get it off the ground.

'Mulk' is there their first project. It centres on a controversial love set against the backdrop of the Hindu-Muslim riots of 1991 and 1992.

Although neither partner has experience in the movie industry they are "100 percent positive" 'Mulk' will be successful. Said 43-year-old Abdul: "We have already been to Mumbai where we made a lot of contacts with film stars and directors and told them about our project. The director of 'Angar' and 'One 2 Ka 4' Shashilal Nair was interested in the project straightaway and will be directing the movie. We have Monisha Koirala on board but we are still looking for a male lead role. A.R.Rahman will also be producing the music.

"We have taken the project very seriously. I have always wanted to do films and here is my opportunity."

There have already been a number of films based around Hindu-Muslim riots, the most successful was "Bombay" which also starring Manisha Koirala with music by A.R.Rahman - so what will make 'Mulk' stand out from the rest? The partners say it will be based more on the historical events that took place during the bloody Hindu-Muslim riots of the early 90s.

"Previous films haven't really dealt with what really happened. It's a bit like the film Titanic where you have the actual historical events that took place with a love affair to spice the film up. We have done research for the film and have spoken to a lot of people in Mumbai to get the facts right and at the same time we were getting the right people on board."

Shooting starts in summer but the project has already attracted attention - notably because Abdul and Afzal have tracked down some unheard songs of acclaimed composer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

"We have a friend in Pakistan who has recorded Nusrat's life works and he told us about these unpublished work which will appear in our first film."

The dialogue in 'Mulk' will be in Hindi and English and the two versions will be distributed in a bid to net a white Western audience.

Abdul's dream of getting into films started when he went to Cardiff University. Money was the enormous barrier so he knuckled down, completed a degree in pharmacy and returned home to open a pharmacy. He had already met Afzal who was also crazy to get into films.

After five visits to India and one to the Cannes film festival earlier this year Abdul and Afzal decided to take the plunge and to set up Paragon.

Said Abdul: "This is very exciting for me. I've waited too long and it's finally happening. My wife and kids have been very supportive. We have put in a lot of hard work to get this project off the ground. With all the effort we are putting into 'Mulk' it is sure to be a big hit."

Watch this space!