The Golden Pen documentary airs tonight on TV for the first time, so Kash Kashmeri is doing the rounds, giving it a publicity boost. His CBC radio interview starts in about half an hour. Here’s a bit of his announcement.
The Golden Pen: Following the footsteps of a Bollywood Scriptwriter airs this Sunday, May 20, at 9 p.m. – finally – on OMNI2 in Ontario. Alberta: Sunday, May 27, 9 p.m. and B.C. Sunday May 27 at 10 p.m. (the Alberta broadcast also goes to Manitoba and Saskatchewan, I believe.).
Synopsis: The amazing journey of an early Bollywood scriptwriter, Aghajani Kashmeri, who ran away from his hometown of Lucknow (Bollywood was not reputable then) to become a hero in a 1930’s flick. It flopped and he ended up in Bombay (now Mumbai), using his literary upbringing to become a celebrated scriptwriter, who wrote about 50 flicks. His personal scenario then took him to his son in Toronto, where he was a fish out of water, unrecognized, unappreciated and trapped. The Golden Pen, written and narrated by his son, tracks him from his grave in Toronto to Lucknow, Bombay and then back to Canada, picking up footage from his films, interviews with old actors and others, against a backdrop of stunning historical architecture and street scenes.