Films, stars and songs of the past

PUBLISHED
Might 14, 2023

KARACHI:

Ever puzzled what points filmmakers of yesteryear needed to face after they determined to supply movies in a newly-created Pakistan within the late Nineteen Forties? How did they handle to create magic for the entertainment-deprived viewers with out little or no assets? What made a lot of them stop their profitable careers in United India and migrate to a rustic the place they needed to begin from scratch? Veteran journalist turned filmmaker Ali Sufyan Afaqi’s Filmi Alif Laila is one sequence that not solely has solutions to those questions, but in addition takes you again in time when the movie trade was in its nascent state, and the one visible medium for leisure was cinema.

Earlier than you progress forward, it’s best to know Afaqi’s credentials. He wasn’t only a maverick movie journalist, however somebody who migrated from reporting on movies to writing tales and screenplays, earlier than turning to manufacturing and path. Not solely was his expertise was behind a number of the hottest movies of the Nineteen Sixties and the Seventies, however he additionally shared a wonderful rapport with actors, actresses, administrators, and producers of his time. From introducing Syed Kemal to Pakistani cinema to founding the template of movie interviews within the nation, he was among the best journalists to report on movies, movie stars, and their lives behind the digicam.

It was through the Nineteen Nineties that he determined to pen his memoirs on a weekly foundation and Filmi Alif Laila was born. The column was printed within the common Urdu digest Sarguzasht for twenty years, and the primary quantity of the Filmi Alif Laila sequence options the columns that appeared in print between July 1994 and April 1995. It wouldn’t be incorrect to say that like One Thousand and One Nights that roughly interprets in Urdu to Alif Laila, the columns takes you to a different world and simply when plainly the story is about to finish, one other story is born out of nowhere, holding the readers’ curiosity intact.

So, in case you ever wish to go to the early days of the Pakistan movie trade, as an alternative of a time machine what you want is a duplicate of Filmi Alif Laila, as a result of not solely does it takes you again in time but in addition offers you with a standpoint from somebody who was a outstanding member of the movie trade for practically 50 years. If one says that Filmi Alif Laila is a mix of memoirs, pen sketches, and autobiography, it may be the proper description of the ebook.

What makes this ebook so essential to any fan of the Pakistan movie trade is its means to attach with the readers. You will be somebody who lived within the period that the ebook explores or somebody who was born after these columns have been initially printed, however the best way the author has described the workings of the movie trade, it stays evergreen. The explanations are each the author’s narrating fashion in addition to the movie trade’s incapacity to increase, and in case you take out the impact of social media from the present period, then there isn’t a lot distinction between the primary 15 years of Pakistan’s movie trade and that of right this moment, besides that it had extra discovered individuals on the time.

From penning his ideas on the expertise of conducting the first-ever movie star interview in Pakistan to describing the ideas of his fellow journalists from that period, Afaqi talks about every little thing that occurred round him. Be it assembly Noor Jehan and Shaukat Hussain Rizvi after a controversial interview of an actress whom Madam despised was printed, to detailing the surroundings of Muslim City in Lahore the place many of the movie personalities resided on the time, the author minces no phrases in calling a spade, a spade.

Since Afaqi was stationed most of his life in Lahore, he provides insights about every little thing that came about through the early days of ‘Lollywood’, the title that turned synonymous with the Pakistan movie trade. How Aslam Pervez entered the movie trade and have become an in a single day star, why Santosh Kumar was the popular alternative of all of the filmmakers of the period, what made Sudhir stand out amongst his contemporaries, and the way the native media reacted when Hollywood movie Bhowani Junction was shot within the nation; solutions to those questions will be discovered within the eight chapters on this ebook.

Apparently, in response to the author, he was the one journalist who had entry to George Cukor, the director of the Hollywood flick, and the best way he describes his first probability assembly with Ava Gardner is nothing wanting a fantasy story. In a rustic the place not a lot has been written of the movie trade, or the place not a lot is thought concerning the historical past of the movie trade, Afaqi’s phrases are price tens of millions, as a result of he was often there when the ‘motion’ came about, and lived a life lengthy sufficient to pen down his reminiscences in his traditional fashion.

Just like the fictional character Jessica Fletcher from the well-known TV present Homicide She Wrote, Afaqi was all the time the place the motion was, and that gave him the perfect alternative to look at a number of the very well-known individuals from his period. He talks at size about Grasp Inayat Hussain, who would take his candy time to compose songs, describes lyricist Tanveer Naqvi’s behavior of having a shower and carrying his traditional ‘work’ garments earlier than settling down for a session along with his composers, explains why Santosh Kumar used to check with everybody as Maulana and the way Darpan and Nayyar Sultana acquired married, regardless of the previous’s behavior of flirting with practically each different heroine within the movie trade. Attention-grabbing, isn’t it?

Nevertheless, he doesn’t go into the small print of the scandal that dented Madam Noor Jehan’s first marriage, and price take a look at cricketer Nazar Mohammad his profession, neither does he converse concerning the movie Bedaari that was later banned for being a duplicate of an Indian patriotic movie. What he does speak about is the movie’s main man Ratan Kumar and the way he was unable to develop into profitable regardless of having household help and the way his affair with fellow artist Neelo got here to an abrupt conclusion. He even provides hints of Shahid and Babra Sharif’s romance and claims that he had no clue whether or not they have been married or not.

Solely Afaqi can write element about actors and actresses who had profitable careers in United India, but migrated to Pakistan for greener pastures. The best way he describes actor/director Nazar, his spouse Swarn Lata, the preliminary profession of Sabiha Khanum, in addition to her brother-in-law Darpan’s quick journey to Bollywood, is intriguing to learn as a result of not a lot is thought about these real-life tales. His largest benefit was being in probably the most progressive period the place the movie trade turned one thing from nothing, so it wouldn’t be improper to name him the Forrest Gump of the Pakistan movie trade as a result of that’s what he was ― somebody who witnessed all of it and went onto inform others about it.

In the event you didn’t know that Nayyar Sultana’s mom didn’t attend her wedding ceremony ceremony as a result of she wasn’t satisfied that Darpan was husband materials, and that the actress needed to transfer into Sabiha Khanum’s home earlier than the marriage or that Saadat Hasan Manto was the one who satisfied Afaqi to go forward and take a look at his hand at writing scripts, it is advisable to get your arms on this ebook. As a result of it tells you why Manto was thought of a genius and what have been the explanations for his decline earlier than his demise. The writer even talks about individuals who helped Manto throughout his remaining days and those that didn’t, which is each heartwarming and heartbreaking.

Nevertheless, as a movie critic myself, I’ve some points with the writing fashion that appears repetitive in most locations. Based on Afaqi, each heroine he met was “lovely, and made for movies” and most of them had a great household background, which differs from what different individuals from the identical period should say. He describes each movie actress as somebody from some fairyland and if that heroine turned barely profitable, the writer would go on to say that she was each filmmaker’s primary alternative and that she succeeded as a result of she had all the precise components to develop into well-known which appears laborious to imagine.

It’s his phrase towards many others who’ve both penned sketches of those ‘primary actresses’ or spoken about them on TV and print. Actually, a number of the actresses he claims to have been very best for movies have light into oblivion, and may solely be discovered on this ebook. Simply suppose for a second, if everybody was so proficient in that period, why didn’t the movies of those actresses do nicely, and why did a lot of them stop the trade after both marrying somebody influential or by distancing themselves from the limelight? His bias is clearly seen in the case of the truthful intercourse, which someway makes the reader surprise about his credibility.

However as a fellow movie journalist who dabbled in filmmaking, for me, our connection was extra religious. Once I examine Afaqi’s incapacity to drive a automotive and the way his life revolved across the ‘how do I get again residence’ syndrome, I immediately linked with him since I often have the identical drawback. We would appear extra within the Sheldon Cooper membership, however some individuals consider driving as a waste of time, and the writer and I are clearly in the identical boat. Equally, when he writes about his associates who wished him to get settled (contemplating he moved round with lovely ladies on a regular basis!), or the problems he confronted when he wrote his first screenplay, our connection acquired even stronger.

A dozen years again, some publishers tried to compile Filmi Alif Laila in its entirety and even printed some components of it in three volumes, however that was extra on the strains of ‘Better of Filmi Alif Laila’. It did impress the readers however appeared incomplete, similar to One Thousand and One Nights would, had the publishers omitted a number of the tales. That’s why the newer version of Filmi Alif Laila options the primary eight full columns that inform so much concerning the workings of the movie trade previously. Right here, one should commend the efforts of each Atlantis Publications and people on the helm at Zinda Kitabein, who’re compiling the Filmi Alif Laila Sequence in ebook kind and are assured of publishing as much as 30 volumes consecutively within the close to future.

As this ebook and the upcoming sequence are in Urdu, it caters to individuals nicely versed within the language, when in actual fact it needs to be translated into English and made obtainable to all those that wish to know concerning the Pakistani movie trade. Proper now, the one ebook within the English language that talks about our movie trade is Mushtaq Gazdar’s Pakistani Cinema 1947-1997 and it solely talks concerning the first 50 years. Hopefully, when extra Filmi Alif Laila books can be found available in the market, the publishers would consider translating them into different languages so those that aren’t accustomed to Urdu would be capable to realise what made our trade nice, again within the day.

The reviewer writes about movie, tv, and common tradition