KABUL - indian movie director Deb Medhekar said in a letter to Shaida Abdali, the Afghan ambassador to India, that he would like to screen Bioscopewala in Afghanistan, India’s Mid-Day newspaper reported.
While he is uncertain about getting permission for a theatrical release, he hopes his film will be screened in schools, colleges or on other public platforms.
The director told the newspaper, "While making the film, I hoped that, someday, it would screen in Afghanistan.”
The story follows a Pashtun merchant from Kabul, who travels to Calcutta to sell dry fruit every year. While in India he becomes friends with a five-year-old girl Mini as she reminds him of his own daughter who lives in Kabul.
Bioscopewala will be released in India on May 25.
Even though Bollywood ventures are a big draw in Afghanistan - with many residents having picked up the language by bingeing on Hindi films aired on their TV sets - tense political climates have led to the closure of several theatres in the country. Inevitably, Hindi movies are only infrequently aired in Afghanistan theatres.
Medhekar said: “The film traces the roots of the Bioscopewala back to his home country. I thought it would be befitting to screen it there. I'm keenly awaiting a positive response. It would give me satisfaction, [a belief] that, in the end, the Bioscopewala does find his way back home."
He says his letter states that Afghanistan has been portrayed in a positive light in the film.
In the past, several Hindi films have been shot in Afghanistan, including Feroz Khan's Dharmatma (1975) - which also starred Denzongpa - Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi-starrer KhudaGawah (1992) and Kabir Khan's Kabul Express (2006) among others. (Tolo news)