The dargah of Ajan Fakir in Sivasagar

May 31: He came all the way from Baghdad to spread the message of love and peace through his soulful lyrics, popularly known as zikirs. That was in the 17th century.

More than 400 years have passed since Ajan Fakir chose Assam as his home, but even now, his teachings are as relevant as ever. More so now, as the state is passing through a period of great turmoil.

City-based film director Asif Iqbal is an ardent believer of Ajan Fakir’s teachings. In his debut venture Ajan Fakir Saheb, a biopic on the saint, Iqbal is attempting to bring back to the silver screen the life and teachings of the “messenger of peace”.

The film’s shooting kicked-off recently with a mahurat at the Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra.

“His message was pure and simple — to spread peace and love among the people. Now as I see largescale violence and chaos everywhere, I strongly feel that the teachings of Ajan Fakir needs to be revived once again,” said Iqbal, who had assisted renowned director Jahnu Barua in his award winning film Konikar Ramdhenu.

It took Iqbal three years of backbreaking research to bring the saint back to life, as there is a dearth of historical writings on Ajan Fakir.

“Though Ajan Fakir is a historical character, the philosophy professed by him is the need of the hour. It is through the revered historical character that I am attempting to bring peace back to the state,” he added.

Currently, the cast and crew of the film are busy shooting at Sipajhar. After the shooting ends at Sipajhar, the team would head for the city. “We will do the indoor shooting at Jyoti Chitraban. After that, we will go to other parts of Assam to shoot the rest of the film. We are planning to wrap up the shooting within two months. Hopefully, we will be able to release the film by this year end”.

A major part of the film will be shot at the dargah of Ajan Fakir in Sivasagar. Located at the confluence of Dikhow and Brahmaputra, the dargah is highly revered by both the Hindus and Muslims alike.

The two-hour film has Bishnu Khargoria, Moloya Goswami and Arun Nath in the lead roles. Dijan Konwar and Hafiza Begum Choudhury will score the music for the film. National award winning art director Nuruddin Ahmed has designed the sets for the film scripted by Prabhat Goswami.

Ajan Fakir, whose name was derived from the word azan (prayer), came from Bag-hdad and settled in Sivasagar. The then ruler of Sivasagar, Pratap Singha, blinded him on the suspicion of his being a Mughal spy. Even then, he stayed on in Sivasagar, learnt the language and immersed himself in the worship of god. He composed devotional lyrics called zikirs, which are sung even to this day.