Deccani Souls

The film Decccani Souls has a connection to the 19th century novel Dead Souls by Nickolai Gogol in the character of Babu and the story’s structure. Themes include dreams, memory and emigration and a specific undercurrent of the story is the invasion of Hyderabad State back in 1948. The film makes extensive use of architectural locations in Bidar and Hyderabad such as Persian-style Bahmani Sultanate era Madrasa-e-Mahmud Gawan and the Qutb Shahi era Charminar with the character of Siddiq moving through time, space and both congested and empty buildings. In this narrative Hyderabad plays the role of dusty, decaying and wonderfully ornate city that both frames and becomes part of the characters. In Deccani Souls, the story and characters both reflect and gives voice to a different and more complex narrative of history while maintaining a hypnotic approach to drama.

Deccani Souls can be described as ‘Art Cinema’ in the tradition of 1960’s European and 1990’s Iranian cinema while also exploring the thin line between fiction and documentary and themes such as time, space and Islamic culture of the Deccan.

Shot on location in Hyderabad and Bidar, India and Peterborough and Toronto, Canada, Deccani Souls is a mystical journey that begins with Hamza wandering through a strange landscape of assorted debris in the winter snow-scape. He ‘dreams’ of another place and time- Hyderabad. In Hyderabad Babu works for the government as a ‘census’ collector – he acts as a kind of door-to-door salesman and initiates elaborate conversations in order to get people to sign away the forgotten yet painful history of 1948 and ‘Operation Polo’. Meanwhile the Urdu poet Siddiq struggles with writer’s block as he navigates the history and pulse of the Deccan looking for a lost essay his grandfather wrote decades earlier. They each weave through the portentous streets, cafes and chaos of Hyderabad trying to make sense of this magically tragic city.

2012 – Canada / India / USA – 106 minutes – Urdu and English – Sub-titles: English – HD Video / 16:9

“Bringing out the lost culture of the Nawabi City…”
—Swati Sharma, Hyderabad, India – The New Indian Express

“A wistful perspective to the feel-good city, the film seeks to bridge the present with the past, to narrate a forgotten story in a surreal format.”
—Hyderabad, India – The Hindu

“Bir ülkeye, toprağa, eve bağlı olma hissi yetkin bir şekilde Tarkovski’nin Nostalghia’sında görselleştirilirken, bu filmde de benzer bir duyarlılığın ziyadesiyle yer aldığını, artık bir hayalet duyguya dönüşmüş olan Haydarabad nizamlığının sanal varlığını her şeye rağmen sürdürdüğünü görüyoruz.”
—Ihsan Kabil, Turkey – Star Gazette

“Deccani Souls offers wonderful in depth symbolism about the complexities of dreams and one’s place in the world…”
—Kamila Sych

“Rahman’s film tells us that the superimposition is also the tool to depict a midwinter fever-dream or memories – because as memories go, when they rain, it’s a downpour.”
—Anuj Malhotra, Floating Zoetropes

“Deccani Souls represents a history of violence and displacement that many Muslim citizens endured in Hyderabad 65 years ago; it also raises many questions about their role in India today- a symbolic return to a place that, for many, was once called home.”
—Andres Tapia-Urzua, India – Projectorhead Magazine

‘Khaas Baat’- ETV (Urdu): Interview and coverage of Deccani Souls Film
‘Special News’, Broadcast | India (September 17, 2012)

ETV (Urdu): Interview and Coverage of Mumbai Screening of Deccani Souls Film
Broadcast | India (September 15, 2012)

Live Press Conference for Deccani Souls Film at Bashirbagh Press Club
Hyderabad, India (August 28, 2012)

ARTICLES, REVIEWS AND ESSAYS

Filistin-Haydarabad
Star Gazette (Turkish) | Turkey (July 25, 2014)

Hyderabad: A Journey Through ‘Deccani Souls’
Daily Sabah | Turkey (May 12, 2014)

Delving into the Soul of the Past
The Times of India | Hyderabad, India (September 23, 2013)

65 Years of Operation Polo (Hyderabad State to Telangana)
University of Hyderabad Herald | Hyderabad, India (September 19, 2013)

Diaspora and ‘Home’ through Films: Reference to the Hyderabadi Muslims and the Kashmiri Pandits
Dimensions of Indian Diasporic Literature in English | Latur, India (Vol.1 p.1 September, 2013)

Documenting the Invisible: An Interview with Kaz Rahman
Braddock Avenue Books | Pittsburgh, USA (June 12, 2013)

Deccani Souls / Kaz Rahman / 2012
Projectorhead Magazine | India (Issue 8, January 2013)

The Tryst in the Hyderabad Tale
The New Indian Express | Hyderabad, India (November 4, 2012)

Deccan ki Mazi ki Jhalkiyan- Deccan hi Ruhe
The Siasat Daily (Urdu) | Hyderabad, India (September 2, 2012)

Sultan Asif Jahi ki Yaadon ko Taaza Karne ka Faisla- Itwar ko Film Release
The Rahnumae-Deccan Daily (Urdu) | Hyderabad, India (August 31st, 2012)

A Peep into the Melancholic Past of Deccani Soul
The Hindu | Hyderabad, India (August 31, 2012)

Filmmaker Takes a Trip Through Hyderabad’s History
The Times of India | Hyderabad, India (August 29, 2012)

Deccani Souls Cinema Brochure Avirpkarna
Andhra Jyothi (Telugu) | Hyderabad, India (August 29th, 2012)

September Gynapakalu ‘Deccani Souls’
Namaste Telangana (Telugu) | Hyderabad, India (August 29th, 2012)

A film for All Deccani Souls
The New Indian Express | Hyderabad, India (August 29, 2012)

Deccani Souls Film
Malayala Manorama (Malayalam) | Calicut, India (July 6, 2012)