Daily Times

The maiden book authored by acclaimed academician, writer and actress Navid Shahzad was formally launched at a local hotel on Monday.

The book titled “Aslan’s Roar” is about the Turkish TV and the rise of the Muslim hero and it also contains much about the Turkish music, art and literature. A large number of artists, historians and many notable literary figures of Lahore participated in the book launch of Shahzad in which the author also read many excerpts from her book while receiving much appreciation from the audience. The writer took two years to research and write her book while she also studied Turkish literature in detail to complete it.

Speaking at the book launch, former bureaucrat Salman Siddique, who is also a family member of the author, said that this book is not just a fiction but it is a book of sociology and political science for him because of the subjects discussed in it. “Don’t read it as a piece of fiction but enjoy reading it as a book of sociology or political science because it talks about Turkish TV and literature,” he said. He further added that the writer Navid Shahzad has been a source of inspiration for him because she was his teacher in masters. She was my mentor and tutor during my studies and I am really humbled that she selected me to read her book for the launching ceremony, he said. He was of the view that the face of book depicts the ‘power of medium’ and the author has used the Turkish TV as the medium.

‘I started writing this book in the summer of 2017 and it took two years to complete it. I am thankful to my family, children, grandchildren, Lahore Grammar School Director Nighat Ali and Sang-e-Meel Publications as all of them helped me a lot during my work on this book’

“I started writing this book in the summers of 2017 and it took two years to complete it. I am thankful to my family, children, grandchildren, Lahore Grammar School Director Nighat Ali and Sang-e-Meel Publications as all of them helped me a lot during my work for this book,” said the author Navid Shahzad. She said that the popularity of Turkish drama in Pakistan despite the fact that we Pakistani aren’t familiar with their language forced me to write this book. The author also used some references of Urdu and Punjabi poetry in the book as she said that the Turkish poetry has many similarities with the Pakistani poetry. “After the death of my father, I discovered the Urdu poetry or rather the Urdu poetry discovered me and therefore one can find many references of it in my book,” Shahzad said, who got upbringing in the family where the giants of Urdu literature of that time like Ashfaq Ahmad and Bano Qudsia used to visit frequently. The book also talks about Kemal Ataturk, Rumi and Shams and how the first word war abolished the Ottoman Empire while giving birth to the modern Turkey. The word ‘Aslan’ refers to the Lion in Turkey and the title of the book says the roar of a lion. “The lion is a symbol of bravery, speed, excellence and majesty in many cases. The Indians acknowledge the bravery of lion while Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) also used it as bravery as he gave the title of ‘Assad Ullah’ to his uncle that means the Lion of Allah,” said Shahzad, who also works as academic advisor for Lahore Grammar School. The lion roars in order to get his presence felt and it is the most dangerous when it goes wild, she said.

A large number of artists, literary figures and notables including Alhamra Board of Directors Chairperson Muneeza Hashmi, former National College of Arts Principal Salima Hashmi and renowned artist Shahnawaz Zaidi also attended the launching ceremony.