Actor and The Story Teller

Actor and the Story Teller

Abu Bukhara, 1965

A community where Art was overwhelmed to be an Evil Practice- I was borne as an actor, a writer, the biggest filmmaker of the most dramatic era; acting, singing, dancing & composing private plays was my hobby. "Your my hero, my Marlon Brando" said Chunni (Chunni Hasina Iftekhar; daughter of Pir Sultan Iftekhar- a local washerman)she always admired me ~ when the play was over & my colleagues used to stand up for ovation & clasp their hand in joy and appreciation.

We were kids but not novice to not know the glamor of films, actors & drama. We were so infatuated with films in our yore that we regularly missed our pray at most 5 times a day and the daily class of Quran by Maulana Hamza (Maulana Mohammad Mir Hamza; a dictact, a laureate of his own world- world of pray, quran and Kqalmas'). I once got slashes of stick on my buttocks for not recalling 5th Sura but let it go lets talk about my- My World of Fantasy & Pragmatism.



"My Father Suleiman Jalani Kurd was 15th son of Mohammad Suleiman Jalani Kurd but from his 58th wife, a most lavish & pervert citizen of Bukhara, he was a tradesman- selling Livestocks, Camels, Milk & other essential goods to all the major city of the country, to be precise he was a monopolist, eating up the whole economy by himself and his 60 beloved wives but lets not talk about him, let him rest in his grave-let's not burn that dead guy's soul .



My father was 15th son of his father's 58th wife Khadiza who eventually was 99th daughter of Mustaq Bin Abdullah who had to hire a private-surrogate to produce hardly 3 children out of which my grandmother was 2nd of it, older one died due to influenza and latter one was married to a well known magician form Jallalabad, before that my grandmother's father had 32 wives, whom he killed because of their impotence & married Subana Ali, who is said was found in a Qatara in the sea- claimed to be God send but later revealed she was given birth by Rabanna Bi, a famous harlot of that time- who was assured to slept with 1000 and 1 men & surprisingly Subana Ali was born after Rabanna's 1000 and 1st intercourse, after which she retired and married a rich lad form Bismilah Darga 'Sher Laud Ibrahim', a Tiger, a Lion, Angel form Heaven, Messiah who was considered to be the purest form of living being and messenger of God, never dying; it is said that a long time ago he kicked Roman emperor Julius Caesar's buttock to subject him to convert into Islam, instead he converted into Christianity, so people claim he should have kicked in his Front. Anyway, going back to my grandfather's history into family tree, he was a good man" Less Divert-More Pervert".



~He was married to the most scintillating women of Jallalabad, Khadiza-my grandmother, who was from neighboring town of Bukhara & it is said that a cold November morning my grandfather found her in old rag,weeping; she was raped by soldiers of Q-ta, a town ruled by Angrez- tall, lanky, white lads from so called west but we all mysterious about their whitish complexion. That very same day my grandfather, Mohd. Suleiman took out his silver embroiled, diamond crusted, a decade old Khanjar and marched toward Q-ta Bhaktarband, where they, 5 young Angrez resided, lads who raped my grandmother. He then took out his silver embroiled, diamond crusted, a decade old Khanjar from his .... and started slicing heads by heads, count by count, wherever & as many as he could find & that's it-he killed all the Kafirs and my grandmother fell in love with him, they married and lived happily ever after but her Chances always came after 57 other women, preety sad. Opps! I forgot, lets not burn his soul again. Eventually after a while my father was born and there was a huge celebration in Bukhara but people were quite suspicious if he was genuine Jalani Trademark ? because he was born just after 2 months of marriage, please readers don't aghast, this was a common case then. So after a while I was born but I know I'm an original Jalani trademark in regards to my paternal rights."



We loved watching movies in a huge theater outside Bukhara, it comprised of 6 meter tall stall, a torn cloth above it- 5 meters in area, Wasim, Iqbal, Mazumda usher, Ticketmaster & film-runner respectively. Almost 12 people could watch movie at same time. They used to show every new movie in a week. I, Chunni, Jinna, Asif, Karim, Bilal, Parwez, Ramani, Hidat, Haroon, Ashfaq, Saleem were the most regular movie viewers, watching same movie thrice a week; Romantic, Action, Hollywood, Drama were our favorite; watching Gerard butler on the screen smooching, Marlon Brando in the Avatar of Julius Caesar, Sunil Dutt with Nargis-classic couple & Yes, Balraj Shahni my hero,freedom fighter, fighting with Aristocrats & Nobles. Gaffur used to come in the stall carrying biscuits and tea & our munching would arise a loud dis-appraisal from other viewers.



I used to get scared if my father ever caught me, he'd kill me for the passion I had for movies and stuff but the passion of it grew inside me and started making an actor out of me. Chunni was always with me. Our religion & creed didn't allow us to love, love movies, love acting but it was our own spirit, but our own vibration & passion that kept us keen to try something new, keen to be a proud Outcast; the same I used to do in home, in Bazaar, in restroom, in the stage; the same I used to teach & preach and eat & drink. I was adamant in the stage, when I acted, people cry aloud, blazed me with the glory and thunders of clasping hands, then I felt how huge I am, how big I am, how great actor , great film-maker, bigger than Marlon Brando, bigger than Francis Ford Coppola, Alfred Hitchcock, bigger than Mohammad Suleiman Jalani Kurd.



My mother always used to tell me," Your the most handsome son I've ever seen, girls will die for you, you will rule the stage, the grandest stage and be the biggest actor." Well, it was on her 5th birthday, if I recall well that I knew her first time, well I used to see her everyday but never cared, she used to live infront of my front lawn though I didn't had any front lawn but she was there, always there, for me, infront of me, behind me, beside me, even at the time when my father caught me red-handed, dancing with the Malhaar troops in a local vendor gathering, held every year outside Bukhara, just infront of  my beloved, our beloved theater ,  he chopped off my right leg.



"It was in end of May when I was 9 yrs old, after I had accomplished much more, after I had become an expert in play-writing, acting, dancing, singing. I had been welcomed by many Bhands for playing in their troop, after playing with so many famous private-functioning film schools and dramatists, after being appreciated by many of my colleagues and private viewers, after I slept with Chunni, after losing my virginity, I became a man. She was with me forever, while acting, my love, my female protagonist; I loved the way she use to move with me on stage, I loved her for her support & her confidence for doing things with me, her slender body stuck with mine when I saved her form the Harrapa (antagonist), when I caught her from falling while fighting, when I romanced with her on that very stage, when we made love.  ~We used to go to most famous market of Bukhara called 'Jashan-e-Bazaar' & we ate haluwa tamr& jalebis', angir, fatera, loubia, areyas kafta, mutabak,  shawarma and the list of other delicacies, longer than Mumtaz Bano's kurtha.



There was a wretched tent of Old Witch in the center of Jashan-e-bazaar, Dummy witch, Sureiya Ibn Bano, a Fortune teller, a Prophesier, she used to foretell just good things. People were afraid to go to her because there was an old but used saying" Don't eat good thing more or your teeth shall start falling down, " but Lovers used to go to her, hiding from the shrewd, 24/7 alert eyes of the community, their parents, their relatives; they were amused to know if they could get married & she used to answer them truthfully that they will otherwise she kept Mum.



We went there as well, Chunni & I, to know if we could ever get married, we were happy, her hand in mine, her heart pumping as same as mine, with smile on our face we asked Sureiya Bano to know if we'd ever  get married; Sureiya stared at her Crystal ball,  our heart pumping, panting, eyes wide open staring into the Crystal ball, she kept mum, we stared at her, she still kept mum, we kept staring, she still kept mum, staring and mum, stared and mum, mum and stared, sT'rd'μ*m~o, staring & mum, these two words felt to be synonymous to each other forever, first time in life we encountered such powerful words which  would change our entire life, 'Stare & Mum' together like bright moon & dark night sky merged together, like blue sky & green earth, like man & woman, thirst & water, jasmine & aroma, food & hunger; all of them synonymous, Synonyms, 'Syn-no-nymous', sin....., SIN-onimous, SINonimous, SIN.........



Short Story By http://www.samsujata.com