It is widely believed that Muslim “martyrs” enjoy rich sensual rewards on reaching paradise. But Ahmed cleverly highlights a new study.
NEW YORK: Gifted Bangladeshi American playwright Sharbari Ahmed is turning her irreverent but not offensive off-Broadway Muslim comedy Raisins not Virgins into a movie exploring American Muslim identity and New York dating angst.
Mumbai-born British actress Archie Panjabi, who acted as Indian “Wall Street” journalist Asra Nomani in A Mighty Heart, will hold Ahmed’s film together as the irrepressible New York adwoman Sahar Salam who loves her Manolo Blahnik shoes and bottle of Stoli.
Sahar, 28, finds herself without the conventional trappings of a baby, husband and religion but with a battle-axe for a mother who pushes her into meeting charming Fordham University law student Rizwan Rahman who is the “altruistic semi-activist sort.”
Sahar surprises everyone, especially herself, by falling in love with Rahman. But Jewish scholar Aaron Waldman then becomes her love interest when Rahman travels to the Middle East and gets sucked into its gathering turmoil.
“It is timely. The average American is pretty interested in knowing what is going on in a Muslim’s head. The original play climaxed with the events of September 11. The play is its own animal and the ending is very different from the film. But the arc of the characters are the same and some of the dialogue is the same,” Ahmed told DNA.
If dialogue from the play is retained then audiences may hear Sahar famously burst out; “Its insanity, people are killing themselves hoping to get laid in heaven while all they might get is an eternity's worth of raisins!”
It is widely believed that Muslim “martyrs” enjoy rich sensual rewards on reaching paradise. But Ahmed cleverly highlights a new study which suggests they may be disappointed.
The film will touch on the current situation in Iraq but more significantly stress the reclamation of the concept of jihad by a woman. “Sahar struggles to find herself spiritually and be Muslim on her own terms.
If being Muslim means falling in love with a Jew and having children with him — that is what it means; without her converting into Judaism or compromising her Islamic values. She herself doesn’t see the contradictions. Sahar is trying to reclaim Islam for herself — on her own terms,” says Ahmed.
When Raisins not Virgins was staged as a play in Harvard, Ahmed received an angry email from a law student accusing her of being pro-Jew and anti-Muslim. “But I don’t take Islam to task. I take Muslims to task and the way Islam is being practised. I don’t criticise the Prophet, I don’t criticise God — it is just an internal struggle and journey that my protagonist is going through.”
As an after thought, she adds; “Islamic fundamentalists in the US are under the radar because of Homeland Security. They have bigger things to worry about than me expressing myself.”
Ahmed is travelling to India in December to research her novel Bombay Duck and round off her cast; “Sahar’s mother is the most endearing character and my dream is to have a Bollywood queen like Jaya Bachchan or Hema Malini. I will try and get the script in the hands of one of them.”
Raisins not Virgins has been selected for the Lark and Indo-American Arts council play festival starting on September 26 in New York.
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