- News>
- Newspapers
Indian Khans and Rani all the way in Kabul: The Pioneer
Kabul, Nov 21: Hindi might be our mother tongue but Afghanistan`s street children have picked it up with great speed by just tuning into Bollywood numbers. `Hume dollar de do,` says a hazel-eyed six-year-old with a pleading look, tugging at the arms of Indians as they roll their luggage out of the airstrip on to the parking lot. Covered in a layer of dust and wearing patchy woollens, he is the first smiling Afghani to approach as you arrive at the Kabul airport. Seems like you never took off fro
Kabul, Nov 21: Hindi might be our mother tongue but Afghanistan's street children have picked it up with great speed by just tuning into Bollywood numbers. "Hume dollar de do," says a hazel-eyed six-year-old with a pleading look, tugging at the arms of Indians as they roll their luggage out of the airstrip on to the parking lot. Covered in a layer of dust and wearing patchy woollens, he is the first smiling Afghani to approach as you arrive at the Kabul airport. Seems like you never took off from India as he waves the ten-rupee note which some generous Indian gave him.
And then, there are the tall and rugged Afghani's who subject foreigners to a piercing scrutiny. But as word gets around that you hail from the land of Bollywood, hostile glances are replaced by curiosity.
Worse than a security check, it takes half-an- hour to get past them as any Indian is bombarded with questions about Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerjee. Or Salmaan Khan.
Bachchan's Baghban is much talked about here. One Afghani croaks out of tune "Mein tujhe kabul tu mujhe kabul," a hot favourite from the time Khuda Gawah was filmed there. Streetsellers offer postcards of actor pin-ups. But the Afghani men thirst for more. Even before handing over the keys, the receptionist of the Intercontinental Sirfudullah demands whether you carry any big posters of Rani Mukherjee in your luggage. "Hume Rani pasand hai. Hum uski ada pe martaa hain," he gushes.
The 15-odd theatres showing Indian films play to packed houses in Kabul. At the Aryub theatre, the crowd outside is bowled over by action movie Zamane Se Kya Darna. "Meine Hindi bolna film se jaana hai. Hume fight achcha lagta hai," says the food vendor in broken Hindi, selling pakoras outside the hall.
While Rani Mukherjee has emerged as the unchallenged star of the post-Taliban era, the Khans of Bollywood are worshipped as idols. "My favourite actors are Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan. Odh li chunariya meine tere naam ki," chants 23-year-old Aziz, the liftman at the Intercontinental. He aspires to meet them in Mumbai one day and is planning on coming to India this year for higher education.
Indian heroines might fascinate the men but few Afghani women frequent the cinema halls. Says Khadiya, who works with the UN aid organisation: "Earlier, when I was in Pakistan, I had more opportunities to go to the theatre. But here it is comparatively less. We have a lot more freedom than the time of the Taliban. But it is still unsafe for women to venture out in some areas and especially after dark," she cautions. The Afghanis' romance with Hindi films did not die even during the civil war years as films did brisk business in the cinema halls of Kabul and Kandahar. "The popularity of Bollywood films is such that underground video shops flourished at the time and now have been replaced by VCD/DVD shops," says Aziz, the liftman whose favourite actors are Salman Khan and Sharukh Khan. Cinema was banned when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. So was screening of films as a major overseas market was lost to Bollywood. "Cinema halls were shut down, the radio played only religious speeches. The Taliban was very strict about even the cars not playing Bollywood numbers. People only met at the mosque at that time," says Javed, a driver with the Kabul Municipality.
Worse than a security check, it takes half-an- hour to get past them as any Indian is bombarded with questions about Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerjee. Or Salmaan Khan.
Bachchan's Baghban is much talked about here. One Afghani croaks out of tune "Mein tujhe kabul tu mujhe kabul," a hot favourite from the time Khuda Gawah was filmed there. Streetsellers offer postcards of actor pin-ups. But the Afghani men thirst for more. Even before handing over the keys, the receptionist of the Intercontinental Sirfudullah demands whether you carry any big posters of Rani Mukherjee in your luggage. "Hume Rani pasand hai. Hum uski ada pe martaa hain," he gushes.
The 15-odd theatres showing Indian films play to packed houses in Kabul. At the Aryub theatre, the crowd outside is bowled over by action movie Zamane Se Kya Darna. "Meine Hindi bolna film se jaana hai. Hume fight achcha lagta hai," says the food vendor in broken Hindi, selling pakoras outside the hall.
While Rani Mukherjee has emerged as the unchallenged star of the post-Taliban era, the Khans of Bollywood are worshipped as idols. "My favourite actors are Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan. Odh li chunariya meine tere naam ki," chants 23-year-old Aziz, the liftman at the Intercontinental. He aspires to meet them in Mumbai one day and is planning on coming to India this year for higher education.
Indian heroines might fascinate the men but few Afghani women frequent the cinema halls. Says Khadiya, who works with the UN aid organisation: "Earlier, when I was in Pakistan, I had more opportunities to go to the theatre. But here it is comparatively less. We have a lot more freedom than the time of the Taliban. But it is still unsafe for women to venture out in some areas and especially after dark," she cautions. The Afghanis' romance with Hindi films did not die even during the civil war years as films did brisk business in the cinema halls of Kabul and Kandahar. "The popularity of Bollywood films is such that underground video shops flourished at the time and now have been replaced by VCD/DVD shops," says Aziz, the liftman whose favourite actors are Salman Khan and Sharukh Khan. Cinema was banned when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. So was screening of films as a major overseas market was lost to Bollywood. "Cinema halls were shut down, the radio played only religious speeches. The Taliban was very strict about even the cars not playing Bollywood numbers. People only met at the mosque at that time," says Javed, a driver with the Kabul Municipality.