I started of course by reading the proofs of Salman Rushdie’s memoir, Joseph Anton – our transmission would coincide with its publication. One story struck me as essential to the story that I wanted to tell in the film – of how Salman had experienced a decade of living under a death sentence, and how he had became the person who got into that situation. It was this: When Salman – born in India but uprooted early and sent to public school in England – went to Kings College, Cambridge, to read history, he opted to take a paper on early Islam. No other student chose it, so the paper was withdrawn. Salman protested – it was his right to study what he chose. Reluctantly the college agreed to provide a teacher just for him. A history fellow called Arthur Hibbert agreed. He was not a specialist in the history of Islam nor of the Middle East but had a great interest in that period and in the development of religions, in time, on this earth. It was he who told Salman the story of the Satanic Verses, in which Mohammed is tempted to deny monotheism and include female deities, in order to get his new religion accepted. It was a story that took root in Salman’s imagination and emerged many decades later in the book which bears that name – the book which prompted the fatwa.
Alan Yentob and Salman Rushdie at Hay on Wye literary festival copyright BBC, Daniel Meyers
I knew at once that I wanted to find Arthur Hibbert and take Salman to see him again, forty five years on. He wasn’t easy to track down, having long since ceased teaching. I wrote via the College – no reply. I found a home address and wrote – still no reply. I began to fear he didn’t wish to be associated with such a controversy, and didn’t want to harass him. But eventually I found a phone number and called - he was elderly, a little forgetful and said charmingly that he wished I had got in touch three years ago – ‘I was myself then’. But he was delighted to be in the film, and razor sharp when they met. Salman was very moved. And better still, I learned through this meeting that Arthur Hibbert had been a close friend of EM Forster, that Salman had had rooms below Forster’s in college, and that although he wrote consciously in opposition to A Passage to India (because India, he said was not cool but HOT), he was a huge admirer of Forster and grateful to have had the opportunity to touch, as it were, the hem of his garment. This was a much humbler Salman than is usually seen.
Arthur Hibbert with Salman
Director Jill Nicholls on location in New York with camerman Daniel Meyers
Another great encounter for me was with William Nygaard, the Norwegian publisher of Salman’s books, who was shot three times in the back outside his home in Oslo. The gunman – who was never found – had slashed his tyres so he would be stuck by his car, an easy target. His life was saved because he was hopelessly impractical so didn’t squat down to fix the puncture but walked round the car to call the AA, and perhaps also because he was an Olympic-standard skier with a strong heart. He was proud of what he had done in defence of free speech. And he offered me smoked whale meat for supper – another great encounter.
William Nygaard in Norway copyright BBC, Daniel Meyers.
Imagine: The Fatwa - Salman's Story (BBC) is nominated for Best Arts Documentary at The Grierson British Documentray Awards 2013 . Producer/Director Jill Nicholls