Budding filmmaker Ali Emran wants to adapt Ayn Rand's famous novel The Fountainhead into a Bengali film with support from the state's artists. As a Kashmiri, he has had to battle political instability and budgetary constraints that has crippled the Kashmiri film industry.
"Shooting in Kashmir is not a problem. But when you are making a film in Kashmir the biggest problem is the budget. We do not have producers there and we have to make films in a limited budget.
"With limited budget, you cannot access good technicians. In addition, there is the issue of political instability that sort of obstructs the thought process," said Emran during the ongoing 20th Kolkata International Film Fest in Kolkata on Thursday.An engineer-turned-documentary filmmaker, Emran's debut feature film Quolf (The Ensorcelled) was screened at the fest on Friday.
"I want to adapt The Fountainhead in Bengali. Since Bengal is known for its strong literary tastes and tradition of cinema, I want it to be a Bengali film. I am scouting for producers," said Emran, who has readied a mock film.
The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by American author Ayn Rand. More than 6.5 million copies of the book have been sold worldwide. It was made into a Hollywood film in 1949.
{{/usCountry}}The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by American author Ayn Rand. More than 6.5 million copies of the book have been sold worldwide. It was made into a Hollywood film in 1949.
{{/usCountry}}Quizzed about the recent Bollywood flick Haider a modern-day adaptation of Hamlet with Kashmir as its backdrop, the director admitted he couldn't relate to it.
"I do not think a person can make such a film on Kashmir. But If you leave the Shakespeare out of it then a localite can be better because he is more grounded and has more knowledge about the basic grassroots problems of that region than an outsider," he said.