Now get ready
for Safi`s `Jasoosi Duniya` series in English
Mumbai, April 26, 2011 (Washington Bangla Radio / Kreation Guru)
Not many are familiar with the name Ibne Safi, a name hidden among
the detective fiction story writes of the world. The stories in the
Urdu language, written by Ibne Safi, are now going to surface with
the upcoming series Jasoosi Duniya translated into English.
Safi's best known books in his days were the Jasoosi Duniya, a
novel of 125 series, published from 1952-1979 and Imran Series which
has 120 episodes. His writings have a blend of suspense, mystery,
violence, adventure, comedy and romance. His books were popularly
read all across South Asia and are comparable to those by Agatha
Christie who herself commented that though she did not know Urdu but
aware of the detective novels available in the sub-continent she
knew of Ibne Safi as the only original such story writer. The crime
and detective stories in Jasoosi Duniya and Imran Series made him
famous.
Ibne Safi was born in Allahabad, India, in 1928 as Asrar Ahmad.
He began writing at a very small age. He wrote in the 1940s while in
India but in early 1952, he migrated to Pakistan after finishing his
education and wrote the rest of his books from there. He started the
Asrar Publications in Pakistan from where he simultaneously
published Jasoosi Duniya in both Pakistan and India. He died in the
year 1980.
The translation for four of the series has been done by a scholar
of Urdu by the name of Shamsur Rahman Faruqi and according to him
the translation was both easy as well as difficult; the translation
itself was easy because Ibne Safi's style of writing was simple but
the frequent humour in Urdu used by the author was difficult
considering the culture of the times; it, therefore, was a challenge
for Faruqi to translate as he basically wanted the language to be
proper. Ahmad Safi, the son of Ibne Safi has truly appreciated the
translation and hoped the effort put into it would bring people who
will see Ibne Safi's work through the series, closer to the author
and help bring his work to the forefront. The series have been
released by Ahmad Safi under four titles, Smokewater, Poisoned
Arrow, Doctor Dread and The Laughing Corpse. These are being
brought out by Westland and Blatt Publications.
Gautam Padmanabhan, the CEO of Westland, says that the author
continues to attract a large number of fans among the Urdu reading
public and the translated series will spread his work to a wider
audience throughout the country. The co-publishing agreement of
Westland with Blatt has made it possible to bring the series to the
forefront. Rakesh Khanna, the founder cum editor of Blatt said that
because he had previously done a pulp fiction of a Tamil anthology
which became a success, he thought of doing the same for detective
fiction which has been written in other languages. They will first
see the success of the four series; if they are successful, then
they will go ahead with the translation of the other titles of the
series
http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/content/42446911-now-get-ready-safis-jasoosi-duniya-series-english
