South African writer scouting for Bollywood producer

NEW DELHI - Veteran South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist Zubeida Jaffer, who is of part Indian origin, is looking for an Indian producer in Bollywood to make her book, “Love in The Time of Treason”, into a movie.

“The book is emblematic of the relationship between India and South Africa and I want it to be co-produced by both the countries. My primary occupation now is to get an Indian producer for the movie,” Jaffer told IANS in an interview.

She was in India to take part in the Kovalam Literary Festival, where she read from her book last week. The Cape Town-based writer will return to India shortly to “scout for a production partner”.

“We must strengthen the south-south relationship because the story sits across two countries and benefit both nations,” Jaffer, 53, said.

Jaffer, an internationally acclaimed journalist, has been commenting and reporting on South African politics and social conditions for close to 30 years. She is currently an honorary research associate at the Centre for African Studies in the University of Cape Town.

An active votary of the anti-apartheid movement, Jaffer has worked closely with the stalwarts of change in South Africa - she was an associate of Nelson Mandela.

“I worked with Mandela as part of the broader movement for change. As a journalist, I met him personally a number of times,” she said.

Jaffer’s book “Love in the Time of Treason” is based on real life characters. It is a tale of activism and love between a south African Muslim anti-apartheid activist Ayesha Dawood, exiled in India, and Yusuf Mukadam, a migrant from the western coast of Maharashtra.

“Political activist Ayesha Dawood was charged with high treason with Nelson Mandela in 1956. The book travels between South Africa and India - and is based on extensive research and interviews with the Dawood and Mukadam family,” Jaffer said.

The book begins with a prologue in 1997, Jaffer said.

Political activist Ayesha Dawood is standing at the Worcester train station, patiently waiting for the Blue Train to arrive. On board is Nelson Mandela with companion Graca Machel. Ayesha is hoping to see Mandela for the first time in 40 years. The last time they met was in the 1950s at the Treason trial that changed both their lives for ever. The subsequent chapters flash back to recapture the story.

“The book has lived with me for 26 years. I first interviewed the Dawood family in 1982 when Ayesha was in exile in India. In 1991, I spent three months interviewing the people of Worcester. It was in 2005 that I finally cleared my desk and came to India with Ayesha. Her son Gulzar Mukadam accompanied us and helped me retrace his mother’s journey into exile,” Jaffer said.

Jaffer, whose grandfather migrated to South Africa from Gujarat and married a native, found it easy to identify with Ayesha’s life and her ties with India.

“I spent 10 days in India trying to retrace Ayesha’s journey. We arrived in Mumbai and lodged at the Sagar Hotel. A few days later, we moved to the Oriental Hostel in Mumbai where she stayed in 1967-1968 soon after being exiled from South Africa. The hostel was near the Bhendi Bazar (Mumbai),” she said.

The hostel was squalid and “very basic”. “There were goats lounging on the stairway leading to the second floor and the third floor. But I wanted her to relive the experience,” Jaffer recalled.

The writer came upon Ayesha’s story while “she was a young working journalist”.

“Ayesha was one of the 50 unknown leaders whom the apartheid leadership did not wipe out from the history,” Jaffer said. “I traced her sister.”

The journalist-writer has “put together a production team in South Africa for the movie.”

“The script is ready too. All I need is Indian assistance,” she said.

(Madhusree Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)