A Bangladeshi teen named Fatima Sheikh is to play the lead character of Malala Yousafzai in filmmaker Amjad Khan’s upcoming film ‘Gul Makai’.
Her identity had been kept a secret for the last 40 days, ever since he did her look test and screening.
‘But now, we can tell you that her name is Fatima Sheikh, and she’s from Dhaka,’ said Amjad Khan, reports tazakhobor.com.
The film’s director said there were two reasons for keeping Fatima’s casting a secret.
‘One was that her parents were extremely reluctant to let her do this role, let alone expose her to the danger it involved and second was the work permit to shoot in India,’ Khan said in a recent interview with The Times of India.
Fatima secured her work permit ten days ago so the film is ready for shooting, he added.
The shoot of the proposed film will be held in India and Pakistan.
He said young new actor’s parents had to be convinced so they would let her play Malala on screen.
‘Even now, the parents are insisting on not revealing the girl’s face till the second schedule of the film’s shoot is over.’
Khan said he acquired permission from Pakistan government to shoot the film in Islamabad and Karachi after three months of effort.
Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani activist for education and girls’ rights, has emerged as a global symbol of the struggle against the Taliban.
The movie’s title ‘Gul Makai’ is a tribute to the pseudonym Malala had used to write her diary from her home Mingora, during the days of Taliban occupation in Swat valley in northwest of Pakistan.
(Source: banglanews24.com)
