Emerging novelist brings sing-along fantasy adventure to Pakistan
KARACHI : A fact that can’t be denied is that there is a dearth of good writers in Pakistan. We haven’t produced anything iconic and memorable in the last decade. But with the new generation being more exposed to literature and visual media from around the world, more young writers are coming up as a ray of hope.
If provided opportunities and sound platforms, the emerging talent probably has the potential to break out and take the local industry to new horizons. Faran Kiani, one such youngster, is a lawyer by profession and a novelist by passion. He juggles two worlds: the real one and the other of his imagination. He published his first novel Kiva – The Hidden Kingdom in 2013 and recently published his second one, titled Five Wishes and the Prophecy of the Prince.
Speaking with The Express Tribune, Kiani shared that Five Wishes was an adventure fantasy genre and was presented in the sing-along fashion, similar to Hollywood musicals. “I remember watching Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and how it had a mix of regular dialogue delivery, as well as poetry. I thought if it can be a film, it can also take the shape of a book,” he said. “So the idea for Five Wishes came up from my desire to depict the same sing-along theme in a book by modernising and exaggerating the Shakespearean style used in Macbeth.”
Kiani plans to make Five Wishes into a franchise. He said it was the first in a series of five or six installments. “Thematically and narrative-wise, J R R Tolkien was a huge inspiration. Just like Lord of the Rings, my book revolves around the struggle between good and evil. It’s about five fairy sisters who are beautiful but lazy and entitled.”es in the last three months and is doing a nation-wide launch in different schools, colleges and universities to promote reading, literature and creativity. The book so far has received a positive national and international response.
Talking about his motivation, the 26-year-old said he had been writing for the past six years. He wrote his first novel while staying in the hospital with his mother and published it on Amazon. However, it was his second effort Five Wishes that came through, which he is using to help liberate the youth from fears of creativity. Kiani combines a motivational session with his book launch. “I have always had a vivid imagination. I wrote a book when I was in third grade, illustrated it, printed it out and stapled it. But I took it seriously after 2010,” he said.
He noted that he is in talks with an animation company from the US to turn the book into a film. “If this comes through, it will be the first of its kind from Pakistan. The movie-book release hasn’t been done here so far, so I’m really excited to see it happen.” He also noted while the film will be in English, he would like to bring it to Pakistan as well.
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