Not Much Limelight for Afghan Actresses

Sadaf, 14, is a little girl with a big dream. "I would like to become a filmstar one day,” said the eighth grader at Rabia-e-Balkhi school in Kabul.



Although there are some job openings these days, there are few real opportunities for Sadaf to pursue her chosen career.



In conservative Afghanistan, acting is seen as a shameful career choice, especially for women. Would-be actresses have to run a gauntlet of disapproving friends and relations to practice their craft.



Parwin Moshtael, 40, a prominent Afghan actress, said she chose her career because she wanted "a chance to reflect the pains and sorrows of Afghan women”.



But some members of her family have yet to reconcile themselves to her decision.



Moshtael recalls how she was living with her married sister when she entered the acting profession. “My sister’s husband wouldn't even speak to me,” she said, adding that he warned her not to come home unless she wore a burqa to conceal herself from the neighbours.



“He used a lot of very bad words about actresses,” she said.



One night, when she did not arrive home until nine because she had been appearing in a show, her brother-in-law locked her out of the house.



“I moved out after that. Now I can't see my sister at all,” said Moshtael.



Some blame this kind of attitude on the Taleban, who not only imposed severe restrictions on women but outlawed most forms of entertainment as well.



“The negative influences of the Taleban are still in people’s minds," said Abdul Latif Ahmadi, the head of the Afghan national film studio and a well-known director. "But we didn't have this problem at all in the Seventies."



Some religious leaders continue to oppose the idea of female actors.



Abdul Qadir, who holds the title of “maulawi”, a high-ranking religious leader, and is also a member of Afghanistan’s Supreme Court, says Islamc precepts prohibit women from performing.



“Islam orders women to cover themselves with a veil,” he said. “So there is no way a woman can appear in movies or go out without this hijab, this covering.”



Maulawi Ziaudin, who works in the Ministry of Haj, takes an even stronger view, saying, “Singing and song are corruption; the Prophet said that it is blasphemy to enjoy music. Based on this, women are not allowed to go on the stage or screen.”



Such attitudes may explain why producers and directors have sometimes had to resort to desperate measures when staging a production.



Zalmai Noori, an actor on Afghan National Television, said he was required to disguise himself as a woman when no actress could be found to take a part.



“In the TV drama 'Taqarori' [Employment] the part called for a woman. We couldn't find an actress, so I had to play the part dressed as a woman. The next day I received a lot of insults because of this,” he said.



At least one director gives some credence to the conservatives’ concerns about women joining the acting profession.



“I have to admit that the cinema did not always have a good reputation or environment,” said Mohammad Seddiq Barmak, director of the internationally acclaimed film “Osama”. “I must be frank – many men in the movie business exploited the actresses. The women were just objects for men’s lust.”



Latif bristles at such charges. “I categorically deny that Afghan cinema was polluted in such a manner,” he said. “Afghanistan’s cinema has always had a special purity.”



Saba Sahar, the head of Saba Film Studio who is not only an actress but also a police officer, agrees with Latif. “I have been in theatre and cinema for over 20 years and I have never seen anything bad in it,” she said. “The cinema and the theatre are sacred. I kiss the ground the theatre stands on. How could this environment be polluted?”



What the industry needs, said Sahar, is an aggressive information campaign by the film-makers' union. “This is the only way we will get families to allow their daughters to appear in movies,” said Sahar.



Those women who have braved censure and shame to become actresses do not seem to regret their choice.



“Society needs actresses in the same way it needs female doctors, engineers and teachers,” said Breshna Bahar, who began her career after the fall of the Taleban.



Bahar has become extremely popular in Afghanistan due to her frequent appearances on television and the big screen.



“I always wear a burqa when I go to the bazaar, otherwise people surround me and bother me,” she said. “I can never go to a public bath.”



Bahar said children follow her on the street, calling her by the name of various heroines she has played.



“I don't really mind,” she laughed. “It's a sign of people’s respect for me.”



Still, it will take a lot of convincing to get some people to agree to women becoming actors.



Abdul Tawab, 16, in the tenth grade at the Isteqlal High School, said that he would never let anyone in his family play a role in a movie.



“Women were created to be at home, not for show,” he said.



Gawhar Naikpai is a freelance journalist in Kabul.