When I first sent an email introducing myself to Saba Imtiaz, I got an automated reply asking me to write to her in Arabic or wait for a few weeks as she was currently in the middle of an immersive language course, during which she avowed that all her communication would be in Arabic. Imtiaz is the young Pakistani writer-journalist, who is also the author of the book Karachi, You’re Killing Me! that’s has been made into the Bollywood film Noor starring Sonakshi Sinha, slated to release next Friday. The film which stars Sinha as the eponymous Noor, also marks the debut of stand-up comedian Kanan Gill of Pretentious Movie Reviews fame.
The book is the story of Ayesha, a young, female journalist reporting from Karachi and her myriad travails in work, life and love. The movie will possibly be more of the same, but it’s set in Mumbai. After much wringing of hands, I scrambled to Google Translate and wrote a couple of lines that must have read like a telegram. Much to my chagrin I realised, after I got her response, that I had made the rookie mistake of writing Arabic left to write like English. Imtiaz however graciously (and from right to left) suggested sending her questions in Arabic or waiting out the weeks of her program. Worried about how much would be lost in translation, I decided to wait.
Soon Imtiaz was back from America where she was doing the two-month course. Speaking about the experience, “It was an intense academic experience. There were suddenly all these new words I could use. And your personality also changes a little bit in a new language. For example, for me I can be sarcastic in English or Urdu, but I don’t know enough Arabic for that,” shared Imtiaz.
Tales from a metropolis
Imtiaz currently working on her second book, No Team of Angels , a non-fiction account of conflict and crime in Karachi said, “I know the city far better than I have known any other cities in all my life. It’s very familiar; I don’t have to think too much to get things.” Karachi, as is obvious from the title, is a huge part of Imtiaz’s first book or she puts it “Karachi is a second protagonist in the book.”
With so much of the book’s essence being closely linked to the city, how differently does she think the movie is going to be as its set in Mumbai? “I wanted to write the story of a single girl in a big city. There are some problems that are common to single women across big cities of the world – money, office, traffic, dating and many other common cues. Obviously, Karachi comes with a different character. But there is liberty to transplant the story into another city. I’m very excited to see how it works out,” she said. Imtiaz who watches a lot of Bollywood movies, believes that everyone interacts with a book differently. “Don’t expect the movie to be exactly like the book. See it for what it is,” she said.
Cities by the sea
Imtiaz has been to Mumbai twice for literature festivals in the city. “I was very curious to visit Mumbai because of its comparison to Karachi. I don’t think Mumbai and Karachi are sister cities or very like each other. There is a very different vibe to both places.” Recounting her exploration of the city sans phone and the Internet, Imtiaz said, “If I can travel without a phone in Mumbai, I can travel anywhere without one.”
So, how are Mumbai and Karachi different from each other? “Mumbai is a very coastal city. The sea has a huge presence and is a big part of the city’s culture and identity. In Karachi, you have to make an effort to come and experience the sea. You don’t interact with that part of city at all, as the city has expanded away from it,” she emphasised.
While the book is completely fiction, Imtiaz says the reporting experiences of the protagonist Ayesha are inspired from her own real life experiences in Karachi. Citing one of her more bizarre examples from the book, a fashion show based around suicide bombing, Imtiaz said her editor thought it to be too strange. “But there was a fashion show with that theme. Some things that happen in Karachi are so outlandish that they don’t even seem real in fiction,” she recalled.
Wait and watch
Imtiaz, who is not actively involved with the making of the film said she’s looking forward to seeing Noor , “I watched the trailer just like everybody else. It feels like an out of the body experience. Just a few years ago I was sitting in my room, writing the book and now it’s being turned into a movie. But, all the basic elements of the character that I wrote for the book were there in the film’s character too. I’m excited to see the film.”
Whether Imtiaz’s story retains its compelling narration or will the essence be lost in translation, remains to be seen.
