“Our children don’t have any local heroes to look up to,” responded Zohaib Kazi, when asked about the decision to translate his English novel, Ismail Ka Urdu Sheher (IKUS), into Urdu. “They only follow western culture, where there are fascinating superheroes like Batman, Superman and Spiderman to idiolise.”
Kazi shed some light on the translation process and what he hopes to achieve through it. While releasing IKUS just a few months ago, Kazi was well aware of the dearth of local literature in Pakistan and in an attempt to rectify the issue, the visual artist, musician and writer decided to re-release his book in Urdu. “I have actually approached quite a few resourceful people with regards to this. We are waiting to see where we can take the project from here,” he said.
While translating an entire comic book is no easy feat in itself, Kazi admitted that looking for the right people for the job was his primary concern. “One area we are facing problems in is that most of the writers are not well-versed in terms of science fiction,” he explained. “Hence, finding the right people for the job has been quite difficult.”
As for what Kazi aims to do once the Urdu version is ready, he claimed that he already has a plan in mind. He intends to convince the Ministry of Education to supply his book to students in government schools. “Hopefully this will help enlighten these children, not in terms of literature but also in regards to science and philosophy,” he said. “IKUSis basically the story of David and Goliath. It is also set against the backdrop of science, which may encourage them to delve deeper into the subject.” Having said that, Kazi added it would be foolish to expect all audiences to understand the project, despite him breaking the story down into “digestible Urdu.” Although there is no timeframe for Kazi’s project, he hopes to get it off the ground and running very soon.
IKUS is a graphic novel and music album, written and produced solely by Kazi. The comic book was published by Markings Publication and is available at Liberty Books.