Layla & Majnun A Screenplay

LAYLA & MAJNUNLAYLA AND MAJNUN is one of the most famous and influential love stories of all time. It is a true story that inspired Shakespeare to write ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Of the many poetic versions of this immortal tale the one that has stood the test of time and influenced most others is by the great 12th century Persian poet NIZAMI that is written in over 4000 rhyming couplets that has been translated into many languages and has been told throughout the Middle East and elsewhere in songs, plays, operas and movies. The author of this film-script has used his own translations from his book of this work to form the narrative (by Nizami) and the dialogue and songs of all the participants to make this unique and important work of art, thus bringing to the viewer not only the scope of the story for the eye, emotion and heart but also the beauty, simplicity and profundity of the poetry of the story for the mind, feeling and soul.LAYLA AND MAJNUN are the children of the leaders of two large and powerful feuding tribes in 7th century Arabia who meet at school and fall helplessly and hopelessly in love… a love that will lead to war between the tribes, immortal songs of love and longing, madness, separation, scandal and disgrace, forced marriage, wanderings in the wilderness, friendship and betrayal, death and destruction of whole families and eventually the union of the two lost, tragic souls in a dramatic and heart-wrenching finale that transcends this material world.Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of over 80 books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish, Pashtu and other languages including Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, ‘Attar, Sana’i, Obeyd Zakani, Mu’in, Amir Khusrau, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, and others, his own poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children’s books and a dozen screenplays.