Sir Hanif Kureishi

by-Akash.R.Jain

IINTRODUCTION

• Kureishi was born in South London to a Pakistani father, and an English mother (Audrey Buss).

• His father, Rafiushan, was from a wealthy Madras family, most of whose members moved to Pakistan after the Partition of Britsh India in 1947.

• After his parents married, the family settled in Bromley where Kureishi was born.

• He attended Bromley Technical High School and studied for A levels at Bromley College of Technology.

• While at this college he was elected as Student Union President (1972)

• He went on to spend a year studying philosophy at Lancaster University before dropping out.

• Later he attended King’s College London and took a degree in philosophy .

• Kureishi decided that he wanted to be a writer from a young age, and began writing novels that were considered for publication while he was still a teenager.

CAREER• Kureishi started his career in the '70s as a pornography writer, under the

pseudonyms Antonia French and Karim.

• He wrote My Beautiful Laundrette in 1985, a screenplay about a gay Pakistani-British boy growing up in 1980s London for a film directed by Stephen Frears. It won the New York Film Critics Best Screenplay Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay.

• His book The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) won the Whitbread Award for the best first novel and was made into a BBC television series with a soundtrack by David Bowie.

• 1991 saw the release of the feature film titled London Kills Me, written and directed by Kureishi.

• His novel Intimacy (1998) revolved around the story of a man leaving his wife and two young sons after feeling physically and emotionally rejected by his wife.

• This created some controversy as Kureishi had recently left his own partner and two young sons; it was assumed to be at least semi-autobiographical.

• In 2000/2001 the novel was adapted to a movie Intimacy by Patrice Chéreau, which won two Bears at the Berlin Film Festival: a Golden Bear for Best Film and a Silver Bear for Best Actress (Kerry Fox).

• The book was translated into Persian by Niki Karimi in 2005.

• His 2006 screenplay Venus saw Oscar, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, Broadcast Film Critics Association and Golden Globe nominations for Peter O'Toole in the best actor category.

• His latest novel, Something to Tell You, was published in 2008. His 1989 novel The Black Album, adapted for the theatre, was performed at the National Theatre in July and August 2009.

• In 2009, Kureishi donated the short story Long Ago Yesterday to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. His story was published in the 'Earth' collection.[7]

PERSONAL LIFE

• In 2013, Kureishi lost his life savings—intended to cover "the ups and downs of being a writer"—in a suspected fraud.

• The London-based writer, best known for writing My Beautiful Laundrette and The Buddha of Suburbia, said he had lost his money after being persuaded to invest in a property deal.

• Kureishi is married, with twin boys and a younger son. The poet Maki Kureishi is his aunt.[

List Of Works - NOVELS

• 1990 The Buddha of Suburbia.

• 1995 The Black Album.

• 1998 Intimacy.

• 2001 Gabriel's Gift.

• 2003 The Body.

• 2008 Something to Tell You.

STORY COLLECTION

• 1997 Love in a Blue Time London: Faber and Faber.

• 1999 Midnight All Day. London:

PLAYS and the SCREENPLAYS• 1988 Sammy and Rosie Get Laid.

• 1991 London Kills Me.

• 1996 My Beautiful Laundrette and other writings.

• 1997 My Son The Fanatic.

• 1999 Hanif Kureishi Plays One.

• 1999 Sleep With Me.

• 2002 Collected Screenplays Volume I.

• 2003 The Mother.

• 2007 Venus.

THE INTIMACY ,1998• Intimacy was published in 1998 by Hanif Kureishi. The novel deals with a

middle-aged man and his thoughts about leaving his wife and two young sons.

Plot• the story tells why the protagonist wants to leave his family. The timespan

of the novel is roughly 24 hours. The novel was loosely adapted to a movie Intimacy in 2001.

• He has lived with his partner for 6 years and has known her for 10, he is unhappy in his relationship and has had several affairs. The trigger for him deciding to leave his wife is more or less that his young lover one day says to him. "If you want me, I'm here". After that he gradually admits to himself that he's not happy with his wife.

• There is no actual development of the main character, and in the end he leaves the family.

Style• He was a realistic writer-inner dialogue mixed with flashbacks,

explaining and contemplating the thoughts of the protagonist.

Major themes• Some of the themes of the book is the following.• Old family constructs in a modern society.• Sexual desires versus intellectual desires.

Film adaptation• Intimacy was adapted into is a 2001 film of the same name

directed by Patrice Chreau, starring Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox.

THE BLACK ALBUM ,1995• The main character of the novel, Shahid, lives in Britain rather than the

United States, but many of the issues remain the same. Shahid is a college student with affluent parents who immigrated to the UK and he finds himself torn between two worlds. He is caught between the world of Muslim religious ideals and fervency and the western sex drugs and rock 'n' roll culture of his favorite professor, Deedee Osgood. He experiences the persecution of those of common heritage, as well as the mindless abandon inspired by Deedee, all while finding moments of profound peace and enlightenment in each set of acquaintances. Shahid's torture in attempting to choose one or the other, his mind at war with two drastically contrasting identities, is palpable. The disparity of these two extremes confuses and amazes him, and he is only able to make a choice when the two worlds crash violently into one another.

• This novel shows how he deals with issues of familial responsibility, desire, identity, and faith, among others. The novel runs the gamut of the human experience, from the beautiful and easy to the ugly and difficult. This novel is a great example of the difficulties that many first or second generation immigrants may face, but it is not for those who are easily offended.

CRITICAL WORKS • Moore-Gilbert, Bart. Hanif Kureishi (Contemporary World

Writers). Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001.

• Ranasinha, Ruvani. Hanif Kureishi (Writers and Their Work). Devon: Northcote House Publishers Ltd, 2002.

• Thomas, Susie . Hanif Kureishi (Readers' Guides to Essential Criticism). Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

• Buchanan, Bradley. Hanif Kureishi (New British Fiction). Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

HONOUR & ACHIEVEMENTS • 1987 Nominated

OscarBest Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the ScreenMy Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

• 1994NominatedBAFTA TV AwardBest Drama SerialThe Buddha of Suburbia (1993)

• 1986 NominatedBAFTA Film AwardBest Screenplay - OriginalMy Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

• 2013 Nominated British Independent Film AwardBest Screenplay Le Week-End (2013) 2006 Nominated •1998Nominated British Independent Film AwardBest Original Screenplay by aBritish Writer of a Produced Independent Film My Son the Fanatic (1997)

•2003Nominated European Film AwardBest Screenwriter The Mother (2003) Prize

• 2007Won Humanitas PrizeFeature Film Category Venus (2006)

• 2004 NominatedALFS Award British Screenwriter of the YearThe Mother (2003)

• 1987 WonNSFC AwardBest ScreenplayMy Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

• 1986WonNYFCC AwardBest ScreenplayMy Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

• What does a good essay do for the reader?

- An essay isn’t a work of non-fiction, it isn’t journalism as such. It’s written to inspire, provoke and ultimately to give pleasure to the reader. Essays differ from fiction, in that you don’t distribute yourself amongst your characters. There is one single full-on point of view.

 • Did you find it difficult to become a

writer?- It’s very difficult at the beginning, because you don’t really know who you are, and you don’t know if you are going to become the writer that you want to be. Until you are established, you think: am I a writer? Or am I someone who is pretending to be a writer? It was bloody hard work getting , therebut it’s fantastic to have done it.

Thank you for attention!