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In a 2017 interview, Afghan actor, director and producer Salim Shaheen described the resourceful filmmaking captured in Sonia Kronlund’s documentary Nothingwood and spoke about his admiration for Indian popular cinema. He also outlined a hoped-for Afghanistan–India film project; the interview records an ambition, not a completed film.
Who is Salim Shaheen?
Shaheen is an Afghan actor, director and producer whose films are made in difficult circumstances and, according to the 2017 interview, are largely self-financed. Scroll described his output as more than 100 films. That is a reported career figure, not an independently audited filmography total.
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His determination came through in his own words: “I will try to make cinema better in Afghanistan in spite of the country’s situation.” The statement reflects the motivation he expressed in 2017, rather than a measure of the country’s film industry today. Read the interview in Scroll.
What is Nothingwood?
Nothingwood is Sonia Kronlund’s 2017 documentary about Shaheen and his filmmaking troupe. It is a portrait of Shaheen at work, not one of his own movies. The film follows the troupe around a production: the Pune International Film Festival synopsis describes Shaheen showing some of his films while shooting another, and the Institute of Contemporary Arts characterizes the documentary as following him during a week of filming.
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The Pune festival lists the documentary at 85 minutes. The Institute of Contemporary Arts also lists it under the alternate English title The Prince of Nothingwood. Scroll’s 2017 account says Kronlund shot the documentary over three years and shows the economics of Shaheen’s low-budget, largely self-financed productions.
For the film’s Indian-cinema connection, a 2017 NDTV report noted that its soundtrack includes Hindi songs and quoted Kronlund on Shaheen’s love of Bollywood films. That context complements Shaheen’s own recollections and plans in the Scroll interview. See the Pune International Film Festival listing, the ICA listing, and NDTV’s Cannes coverage.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What did Salim Shaheen say about India?
Shaheen said he hoped to make a project spanning Afghanistan and India: “I have a few films that I would want to base out of Afghanistan and India,” he told Scroll. He described one possible story about an Afghan man seeking medical treatment in India. The interview does not establish that this proposed project was later made.
His interest in India was also personal and cinematic. Shaheen recalled watching the Hindi film Yaadon Ki Baaraat as a child and said he hoped to work with Dharmendra and Shakti Kapoor on a project. Those are his recollections and aspirations as reported in 2017, not evidence that such a collaboration occurred.
What did Shaheen say about Afghan cinema’s economics?
In the interview, Shaheen contrasted Indian cinema’s reach with Afghanistan’s limited theatrical infrastructure, saying India had thousands of theatres while Afghanistan had “barely five.” That was his comparison in 2017, not a verified current theatre count. It helps explain the scale of the challenge he described, but should not be treated as a present-day industry statistic.
Where did Nothingwood screen?
Raman reported that the documentary screened in the World Cinema category at the Mumbai Film Festival running October 12–18, 2017. The Pune International Film Festival also records screenings in January 2018. These are historical festival appearances; the listings do not establish current streaming, rental or disc availability. The Doha Film Institute’s film page provides an additional synopsis and biographical context for Kronlund.
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