“I am very excited and at the same time it is a very strange feeling that my book has been made into a movie,” said writer Mohsin Hamid, at the premiere in Pakistan of The Reluctant Fundamentalist at Cinestar cinema in Johar Town.
In an exclusive interview to The Express Tribune, Hamid praised the cast and crew of the movie based on his best-selling novel of the same name published six years ago.
He said working with director Mira Nair was one of the best experiences of his life. “She is absolutely fantastic and a brilliant person to work with and a thorough professional who loves Lahore and Pakistan,” he said.
Asked how the story had been changed for the movie, he said: “In the book you never know till the end what has happened, but in the movie it can be changed to have a more interesting ending.”
The writer was pleased with the movie. “What matters after the hard work is the end result or the final product, and in the end the final product after the changes both in the pre- and the post-production phases came out quite well for us,” he said.
He said the cast and crew of the movie were very professional and he had enjoyed working with them. “All of them did complete justice to their roles and beautifully moulded themselves into the characters, and lived the characters, which are surely the signs of great and professional actors,” said Hamid.
He was particularly impressed with Riz Khan, who plays the lead character (Changez), saying he was one of the best young actors around. “He is an exceptional talent and he impressed me a lot with his dominant screen presence, dialogue delivery and expressions,” said Hamid.
He admitted to feeling very honoured when his novel was picked up to be made into a movie by a director based in New York.
“Mira Nair wanted to address these issues by making a movie on it and she also wanted to make a movie about Lahore as her father was from Lahore,” he said.
“I want people to read the book first and than watch the movie and then do some brainstorming to decide on their own what the main idea behind writing this novel was,” he said.
He also praised the soundtrack of the movie, particularly the opening song, Mori Araj Suno, by Atif Aslam and Bijli Aye Ya Na by Meesha Shafi.
“People must come out and watch this movie with friends and family,” said the author, who was accompanied by his friends and family at the red carpet premiere. The movie will be on general release from May 24 across Pakistan. It debuted in Western countries several months ago but was delayed here because of the non-availability of the censor board.
Other leading cast members include Liev Schreiber, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi.
Hamid was born in Lahore in 1971 and has written two other books: Moth Smoke (2000) and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013).
Published in The Express Tribune, May 24th, 2013.