We are in a makeshift lounge at Mehboob Studio, sipping lukewarm, sweet coffee while discussing love, racism, violence, identity and history with novelist, screenwriter and playwright Hanif Kureishi.
The significance of the moment does not escape us — Kureishi, born in England to a Pakistani father and British mother, delivered the keynote at the Times of India Literary Carnival on the day Babri Masjid was demolished 21 years ago and Nelson Mandela passed away.
The author of My Beautiful Laundrette is here with his son Sachin, to show him the city that his father loved and left for England, but which retained a special place in his heart. Kureishi, who grew up in Bromley, faced racial discrimination as a youngster, but eventually found acceptance in an identity he created for himself — that of a writer in a progressive, liberal Britain.
Speaking of how the definition of anger has changed between his generation and that of his son's, he says, "Our anger was conflictual. It was partly because of race and immigration. It was far more complex than what Sachin would experience. Britain has since then transformed itself, leading the way in creating a multi-cultural society, far better than France or Italy."
Kureishi believes that his son, who is "quarter Pakistani with an Indian name," is the "perfect embodiment and beneficiary of the new Britain." The transition has not been easy, he points out, "To embrace something new, you have to let go of an identity." A theme that recurs in his works, especially in Intimacy, where he makes a strong case for letting go of relationships and identities in order to accommodate the new. When we argue that the recent spate of racial attacks in Britain do not paint a pretty picture of the multi-cultural nation he is proud of, Kureishi counters, saying a society expresses itself in the language it speaks. "When I was growing up, my teachers at school called me 'Paki'. If someone does that now, he would be sacked immediately," says the recipient of the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Kureishi's father migrated to England during Partition, (even as the rest of the family moved to Pakistan), to create a new identity for his children. But as a teenager, it was this background that fuelled his passion for writing. He reasons: "The more you are aware of your history, the larger your sense of self would be. The past, as Milan Kundera says, is not one thing. It is an argument, it is unstable and you can keep remaking it."
One of the most vocal critics of censorship in literature and art, Kureishi has been a friend of Salman Rushdie since his Fatwa days. He too has courted controversy in his semi-autobiographical works that explore the themes of radical Islam, immigration and sexuality. While he acknowledges the pressure between the "system and the artist" especially when it comes to religion, he believes, the resistance should lead to more creativity. Even as Kureishi pins his hopes on the young in both, India and Pakistan, who have been doing "beautiful work with music, films, art and writing," he is disappointed with the religious and political bigotry that seems to dominate popular consciousness. "A great civilisation has to be an economic power, have political force, and have great dance, art, music, theatre, novels," he reasons. "India has been one of the greatest civilisations and it should be careful that censorship does not impede this progress."
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