GupShup Forums - Blogs - arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/ The largest Pakistani Bulletin board and portal en Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:58:08 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.paklinks.com/gs/images/misc/rss.jpg GupShup Forums - Blogs - arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/ The Train Journeys of yesteryears!!!!!!! http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/63266-train-journeys-yesteryears.html Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:23:28 GMT *The Train Journeys of yesteryears!!!!!!!* **Raju Jamil** I remember my first ever rail journey from Karachi to Rawalpindi in 1958 enroute to Murree for our summer vacations with grand-mother (Dadee Amaan) my mother, brothers and sisters and our family servant Farid Khan by Tezrao in that... The Train Journeys of yesteryears!!!!!!!
*Raju Jamil*

I remember my first ever rail journey from Karachi to Rawalpindi in 1958 enroute to Murree for our summer vacations with grand-mother (Dadee Amaan) my mother, brothers and sisters and our family servant Farid Khan by Tezrao in that inter-class bogey which had wooden seating for eight and sleepers (upper berth) for two each side. The bogey had fans with control knobs, adequate roof lights with switches, a sizeable toilet well maintained. The emergency chain handle always attracted me and I had to control myself from pulling it...that there was a Rs.500 fine those times which should be close to Rs.5000 today!

The best part of train journey was the night time when the holders (known as HOLLDOLL) was unwrapped and laid on the seater and the berths with soft cotton mattress, soft pillow and of course a quilt which, in current modern era, would best be known as a 'comforter' ! and then the huge nashtay daan (lunch box) was opened which normally for train journeys, always had parhathaas, qeema, omelletes, tarkari and before the departure of the train....a mud pitcher known as 'sura'hee' was essentially purchased for Rs.1/- and filled with water from the railway station tap and by God...we didn't hear of people being hosiptalised or dying due to cunsumption of railway station's tap water then !!!!!!!!!!!!!!in fact we ourselves were the 'consumers'......of that water!

A game of ludo or rummee during the train journey was sizzling to the extent that instances have been noted of the ludo game board flying out of the train window with tempers flying high on the umpteenth try for SIX on the dice and not getting it! The sweet sound of deisel engine crusing smoothly towards the destination witha down train passing by in speed---was all too exciting and if you were traveling to Quetta or Peshawar, the keen await for a tunnel (surrangg) was more exciting.

The train heading in speed---intially provided the view of Drigh Road, Malir and Landhi areas when proceeding from the ever green, though small, Karachi Cantt., Railway Station which was the commencement point for major trains like; Tezrao at 1.30 pm, Tezgam at 3.45 PM and Khyber Mail at 9.45 pm...Tezrao ended journey at Lahore, Tezga at Rawalpindi and Khyber at Peshawar. Lahore journey took close to 20, Rawalpindi around 22 and Peshawar about 25 hours. It was fun traveling by smooth and sparkling trains then...or say...till late 70's or early 80's afterwhich...everything became a dream...!

As time progress, my father's job also progressed---which provided me three opportunities to travel in what we can describe as "Priority Lounge" we have at Banks these days....yes, I am talking about the German made Airconditioned Coaches and Sleeper Cars attached with an airconditioned dinning cars.....where the cooling was ten times better then the cooling you receive in your airconditioned car. There were coupe of two and four berths which more mostly occupied by families. The berths were clad with chamoise cloth in dark green color and the coupe had even a ladder to climb the upper berth when going for slumber. It was heavenly to travel airconditioned coupe and so serene and magical atmosphere was in dinning car that we use to sit there for hours after breakfast or lunch or dinner---enjoying discussions and the sheer excitement of traveling in such a quiet and serene atmosphere!

The BEIRA (attendants or waiters or servers commonly known as..then) in airconditioned coaches/dinning cars, were in white attire with thick belt bearing steel emblem of PWR (Pakistan Western Railway....the new name of NWR...North Western Railway from late 60's....) and a kulla with a starched fan type cloth emerging out to add to the grace of it being worn....something like the cap worn by our guards at the border between Pakistan and India at Wagah these days.

The dinning car had the best breakfast with all kind of cereals and the dinning car food was quoted in parties---much to the disdain of being made a mockery in the famous TV comedy '50-50' some years later---due to the extremely dilapidated condition/food quality the raliway dining car food turned into on account of the catering business outsourced and quality not controlled!

The other kind of AIRCONDITIONED compartment was the one which was mostly on QUETTA and PESHAWAR routes. The airconditioned was fan controlled with layers of ICE laid on the top duct area...which too provided adequate cooling.

The train journey in Pakistan from any point to any point----was the most exciting affair for the school students like us in late 50's through late 60's and for a short while thereafter-----and the maintenance of compartments, bogey and the general atmosphere in trains was incredibly high on quality..!

Rail journey to places like QUETTA and PESHAWAR or hilly areas----essentially had LOCOMOTIVES pulling the bogeys as the incline could only be scaled when a LOCOMOTIVE was deployed. Locomotive had steam engine which ran through coal and the first ever Locomotive provided to Pakistan was on 20 August-1947 by the British Government which was manufactured in Glasgow-Scotland and during my last three visits to Scotland for shoot of Zulfi Shaikh's serials and once of my own for 'hogmanny' (new year eve at Edinburgh) I had the opportunity to visit the Locomotive Factory nearby Glasgow which is now a bit quiet. But interesting, a low powered Locomotive still attracts attention of tourist in Rawtentall near Manchester---where you get the opportunity to ride a World War-II train pulled by a locomotive (see the attached picture) and it was during my journey on that train in July this year (2009) that the Locomotive driver told me about the history of Locomotive manufacture and the fact that how some were exported to Pakistan in 1947.

In Pakistan since my phoppa (aunty's husband) was a senior official in Pakistan Railways, I had the opportunity to travel by the USA gifted DEISEL ENGINE from Lalamusa to Rawalpindi and in a Locomotive from Karachi to halfway through Quetta...years back.

The other fascinating part of rail travel was to travel in a SALOON which were specially provided to senior officials and of course the Minister of Railway while there was a special three bedroom SALOON of the then President of Pakistan fitted with just about everything. There are two categories of SALOONS; an ordinary one and the one fully airconditioned. I traveled both...and it was simply mesmerizing and out of this world that i have not been able to forget about that journey in airconditioned saloon from Sukkur to Lahore with my Phoppa and Phoppi and their family.

One of the most exciting 'gadget' in railway...I call, was; TROLLEY but it was always heart wrenching to watch two well built guys pushing the trolley for miles while the DSO or DO Railway sat with his hunter's hat and a stick under a huge umberella.... to inspect the technical sides of railway in connection with the laying or maintenance of railway line (or tracks) then. Thank GOD! that I also saw Electronic Trolleys or Deisel Trolleys...which had a mini engine like a motorboat...handled by the driver sitting nearby it...!!!

There was always a GUARD bogey right at the end of the 12 bogeys usually connected through crankshafts with each other. The guard bogey had an emergency brake system he could apply if required. The guard would always remain vigilant also for getting morse code messages and the management of signals clearing the train to proceed further--at some stations and points with many number of tracks!

PAKISTAN RAILWAYS played an important role in Pakistan's politics as well...when Field Marshall Ayub Khan then President of Pakistan, went on a crusade on PAK-JUMHOORIYATT SPECIAL TRAIN with his team of cabinet ministers and officials from Karachi to Peshawar...stopping at each major station...addressing the awam and also granting monthly grants to the widows etc., I actually went to that special train and visited the saloon of Brig.Nawazish Ali anf F.R.Khan, MS and Private Secretary to Field Marshall as my father was also traveling with FM by virtue of being his Personal Staff Officer then.

Pakistan railway has come a long way--though sadly, it has not been able to maintain the grandeur RAILWAYS was required to maintain.

Some of the railway stations I remember passing by on journey from Karachi to Hyderabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi and Peshawar---on account of their landmark and importance on something..were;
  1. KOTRI due 'Kotri Barrage' we awaited to cross with Indus River flowing proudly (currently we yearn for water there..)
  2. Hyderabad was the busy station all the time. The best buy there were BANGLES.
  3. ROHRI nearby Sukkur as Sukkur was not the stop--it was on left bank and the train went through right bank though we always saw the famous YAQOOB BISCUIT FACTORY almost attached to the railway line our train cfommuted on. Rohri also had a barrage.
  4. KHANPUR was famous for KHOYA and PEIRRAS. We stayed awake at 4 am the time train reached Khanpur...only to buy the khoya.
  5. SAMASATTA near Bhawalpur was famous for pottery works. Flashy kaamdaar surra'hee etc were the attractions.
  6. MULTAN was the most sought after railway station and a junction also...where HAFIZ KA SOHAN HALWA was the main item which everyone use to buy by default. Seniors mostly preferred to buy MULTANI MITTI....
  7. LAHORE was (and still is...) the biggest railway station in Asia. Entering the railway station created a spellbinding effect on us peeking through the window of our compartment---amazingly and keenly awaiting to see the cheerfull faces of our first cousins or friends waiting anxiously for the train to stop and order the QULI to lift the luggage...noting his badge no.
  8. RAWALPINDI came after passing by Lalamusa and Gujrat stations. I always wondered where Lala Musa Sahab lived? and wished that someday I may meet him!!!!
  9. The most keenly awaited railway station for me...during the journey from R'Pindi to Peshawar, was NOWSHERA rekindling my sweet memories of stay at my Khala's several times when my Khalu was posted at the Armoured Corp School as Commandant. The wonderful evenings at Nowshera Club....and the picnis near river Kabul...can never be forgotten.
  10. Passing through tunnels before reaching Peshawar was scary but exciting and a glimpse of Attock Fort...from that railway bridge....was an adventure itself!
The train journey in Pakistan is now limited to a limited people---most of them scared on the ill maintenance of railway tracks, the route and the bogeys and the compartments what to talk about the railway stations and the waiting rooms of our times--which, near matched a three star hotel of today!
A train getting late during our days (late 50's through early 70's) was something quite rare....! and so were the happenings we hear---on train journeys of today!








]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/63266-train-journeys-yesteryears.html AAH...THE CINEMA HALLS OF KARACHI (I MAY NEVER FORGET) http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/61691-aah-cinema-halls-karachi-i-may-never-forget.html Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:31:04 GMT AAH...THE CINEMA HALLS OF KARACHI (I MAY NEVER FORGET) =========== *RAJU JAMIL* I talk of 1960 the first ever time I was allowed to go to a cinema hall but only the Sunday Morning Special or Matinee or at best--1st show i.e. 6 to 9 but rarely! and never the late till 1968! I lived in... AAH...THE CINEMA HALLS OF KARACHI (I MAY NEVER FORGET)
===========
*RAJU JAMIL*


I talk of 1960 the first ever time I was allowed to go to a cinema hall but only the Sunday Morning Special or Matinee or at best--1st show i.e. 6 to 9 but rarely! and never the late till 1968!

I lived in Garden Road Officers Colony when I started going to the movies alone. I mean from home. joined by my close (neighborhood) fiends like Hafeez and Puppoo or my Dadi Amaan and Phoppi--in a cycle or motor rickshaw. The fortunate point was that there were many cinema halls relatively closer to the Garden Road Colony. near or opposite the Karachi Zoo. Nearest and walking distance were Nishat, Naz, Lyric and Bambino.

Nishat, Lyric and Bambino survive--NAZ died years back! Nishat was heavily influenced by the Income Tax Departments---being situated right next to it. The hall was popular with families and always had Urdu movies. The ones that did golden jubilee at Nishat were; ASHIANA, EID MUBARAK, QAIDI, EK TERA SAHARA, CHRIAGH JALTA RAHA, and lots more. ASHIANA went upto platinum jubilee.

Nishat was a well furnished cinema hall with a certain local ambiance which could have been depicted in some Razia Butt novel with Aamir as hero and Naureen as heroine! The air-conditioned forced many to put on their shawls or warm themselves with tea/coffee. The upkeep of the cinema hall was par excellence.
Everything glittered. Now...the situation is a bit slippery but the show goes on.

NAZ Cinema was not air-conditioned but Aslam still pulled the crowd by choosing to release the in-demand-story movies only. He made good amounts through ARMAAN which did platinum jubilee there...earlier. It was HEERA AUR PATTHAR of Film Arts again. This did box office at the Naz Cinema. Where now stands NAZ PLAZA. as the Video killed the NAZ Cinema much to the pressure of building plazas and complexes. then!

I remember LYRIC cinema--dearly for the fact that me and my neighbor buddy--Hafeezur Rahman, went to the FIRST DAY (Eid) FIRST (Matinee) SHOW, OPENING of the cinema in 1960 on the premiere of GOLAITH & THE BARBARIANS. I remember LYRIC more dearly--for the fact that it was the first cinema hall of Pakistan which had everything modern...PLUS that DANCING/Hip Shaking Lady shaped through NEON lightson 'BAMBINO' signage neon. At night you could see a lady shaking her hips with the glowing neon sign displaying cinema halls name. A movie at LYRIC or Bambino and hot spicy lunch or dinner at the adjacent PEHALVI restaurant--was fun fun fun!

Fortunately--both survive! But unfit for human consumption---especially LYRIC now--:(

I can never forget the 'student concession' ticket we purchased for Rs.1/- for GUNS OF NAVARONE at Lyric cinema...and what more fun could there be--when we saw construction work taking place right next to Lyric and bang opposite to the (Goolbai) hospital I was born on 14th August-1949... yes...the
giant----BAMBINO was coming up!

BAMBINO with the name which translates to a child in Italian...was in fact a huge cinema hall which also had the penthouse of its owner on the top floor.

It was opened with the premiere of "SOUTH PACIFIC" in Pakistan and had the honor of being the FIRST cinema in the country with the facility of 70MM screen and projection system..something unique for the Region then! "SOUTH PACIFIC" drew large crowd only due to the fact that BAMBINO was something like a new picnic spot for the viewers who did not care about the movie (which had 21 songs as it was the most popular musical in the history of American cinema...and
I still remember that song..almost by heart "I AM GONNA WASH THAT MAN RIGHT OUTTA MY HAIR" from the movie..which...was quite boring yet a must see then as the craving of a cinema-goer was at its height to visit the NEW "BAMBINO" cinema which had ICE COOL cooling, best restaurant, heavenly ambiance and equally an atmosphere in the hall to reckon with...where one would speak softly, laugh whole heartedly and cry quietly....watching the movie. Not like the situation
prevailing now...where exchange of sms during the show is like an integeral part of the story of the movie!). Speaking of LAUGHTER...it was at BAMBINO that myself and Producer Ishrat Ansari almost fell off our grand circle seats with fits of laughter..when we went to see "THE PARTY" of Sellers after completing the days work for a TV play at PTV-K.

BAMBINO also goes down in history to have hosted Field Marshall Muhammad Ayub Khan and his Cabinet for a 6 to 9 show of "LAWRENCE OF ARABIA" which I had the privilege to witness with Ayub Cabinet--my father, then, being Personal Staff Office to Ayub Khan. There were three Generals with Ayub Khan; Gen Burki, Gen Shaikh and Gen.Musa at the Bambino to watch the movie on Colonel Lawrence! And the next super movie which went box office on ticket sale for three consecutive months--was CLEOPATRA and there could be no cinema hall in Karachi then..which could show CLEOPATRA then BAMBINO!

SUMMER HOLIDAY...was another movie which became a pillow talk in Pakistan and people thronging BAMBINO Cinema for tickets!

BAMBINO continues its crusade despite boom bassay ya humma aye! at that most sensitive spot of Karachi on some passive issues suddenly cropping up and
requiring rallies etc! which must pass through Bambino Cinema's sight!

A few years after BAMBINO arrived, its marraige with the adjacent LYRIC cinema produced a beautiful child in shape of SCALA cinema...something like a home
theatre (and a dream now!!) where the limited seating and good ENGLISH language movies...protected the cinema from becoming a fish-market! where the
airconditioning was at its best, the ambiance like you may have witnessed at some cineplex in Dubai or KL..!! in fact better then that!
SCALA died its own death...having become sick...of the impact of unconventional movies and its atmosphere proving to a cancer to that beautiful mini hall
having velvet covered seats and a certain geity.

Coming down towards the Trinity School area from Zebunn'nissa street....we would land up at the biggest cinema of Pakistan "RIO" which had the capacity to seat 1100 in that huge hall with an equally huge parking within its boundary walls...right in front of Karachi's most loved "PALM GROVE HOTEL" where they now have some shopping mall and plaza without adequate power supply and with huge rent! something to which RIO also fell out and died after trying to
survive as an auditorium for some years till building cancer got it too :(

RIO cinema gave us many reasons to feel contented with movies like "COME SEPTEMBER" which broke all records of the American movies in Pakistan by running
for six consecutive months..most house full specially on weekends and sundays. Cinema rules back then..were strict! If the movie was classified as "FOR
ADULTS ONLY" nobody of below 18 dare go to the hall to buy tickets or even try to enter the hall on someone's ticket! I remember...when "BLOW HOT..BLOW
COLD" was released in RIO right after "Sexy Susan Knows How?" ... many tried their hard to get access to the hall using local area police influence
even...but strict monitoring prevailed!

RIO cinema ..I should always remember...was the place where first ever unofficial PTV Awards Ceremony was held under the aegis of MEDORA OF LONDON in
February-1970 where "KHUDA KI BASTI" won 5 awards....on Production (received by Ishrat Ansari and Rasheed Umar Thanvi..jointly), Best Actress received by
someone on behalf of Tauqeer Fatima who died in between the recording of serial in 1969), Qazi wajid as Best actor and yours truly received the Best
Supporting Actor's award...from the CEO of Medoar of London in Karachi then.

RIO should not have died....!

Going very very far back...not many would know that we had KISMET cinema right next to RIO towards the TOPSY ice cream/soft drink outlet on that road
turning towards the Governor House when we come from Zebunnissa Street and pass the RIO now...
KISMET was an open air cinema where...I distinctly, remember having watched Dilip Kumar's movie which has this song "AIE MERE DIL KAHIN AUR CHALL" as I will never forget that song and faint in my memory yet clear--that old woman running on the hill when she hears Dilip sing that song!....and i am talking of 1958 when I was under 10 !

Driving past RIO and moving towards AVARI (AVARI Hotel site is the exact plot where we had the huge house of the C-in-C of Pakistan Navy..then..in 60's) when you pass by the signal towards Metropole Hotel...and just before it on your right...was the most sought after--and favorite cinema hall..of the then
teenagers as PALACE Cinema was attributed to be the cinema hall free of horror, sad, and mystery movies. All the films it ever showed were FUN FUN FUN and family ones including ELVIS PRESLEY's....which were regularly repeated as SPECIAL SUNDAY MORNING SHOW at 10 AM once in every 3 months...! PALACE was not a large cinema hall....it had an approx of 250 seats and on a single floor which slided from grand circle towards the dress circle. It had a wonderful ambiance and was the most reckoned cinema hall of Christians also. PALACE died almost a decade+ back succumbing to the pressure of wedding halls which promised far more "BIJNUSS" then screening the films...!

Its strange that CLIFTON area never ever had any cinema hall...till as close to the famous and the only..."Lovers Bridge" which was the landmark of Clifton just before the famous BRIDGE Stores leading towards the locality where the Government Officials had their official bungalows almost close to the seaside!

Going back right at the heart of Karachi in the hustle bustle small scale business (retail) area of Karachi...adjacent to BOHRI BAZAR and where now
stands...SADDAR POST OFFICE...and there at the small and congested lane...stood the glorious cinema hall..owned by Mr. Mobed...."CAPITOL" where I saw the best of the war, Roman era and Victorian era movies which I will never ever forget. CAPITOL was a cinema which had everything a cinema-goer may want as peace and tranquility to watch the movie with interest and full understanding. It was the only cinema in Karachi where the entry was not allowed..even if you had an advanced booked ticket..if you were F.I.V.E minutes late from the start of actual movie..as the movie usually use to start after a few cartoons of Woody Woodpecker followed by PAKISTAN KA TASVEEREE KHABARNAMA in Talat Hussain's voice...a promo of the Govt. on the projects undertaken and their progress.
CAPITOL management went an extra mile--when they constructed the images of special CHARRIOTS at both the walls of the cinema hall inside when the 11 Academy
Award winner "BEN HUR" was released in Pakistan in 1960. I distinctly remember having met Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Sahab and his entire family; Nusrat Saheba,
Mohatarmma Benazir, Sanam, Murtaza and Shahnawaz..at the CAPITOL cinema when I went to see THE SIGN OF A GLADIATOR in 1964..and when I shook hands with Bhutto Sahab and told him how happy I was to meet him...on which he smilingly asked me
"Do you know who a Gladiator is?" and I replied "A Roman fighter, sir".
I can never forget the CHOC BAR of Capitol Cinema...priced EIGHT ANNAs (fifty paisa) which was actually a real chocolate stuff not just coated by a thin slice of Chocolate....it was huge..somewhat half more then the magnum ones we see currently. Enjoying that CHOC Bar at Capitol during interval was as much
fun as watching the movie..and perhaps..one cogent reason preferring Capitol for movies..!

CAPITOL had a twin brother too...just about a few furlongs towards the Karachi Passport Office where now..survives a hotel...but..with the name of that twin brother..."PARADISE" where...we saw some of the most exciting movies like "PICNIC","THE NAKED MAJA","REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE", FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS, GONE WITH THE WIND, ULYSESS, THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD, 7th VOYAGE OF SINDBAD, TOM THUMB etc etc......! PARADISE was managed by my good friend, the son of the owner of Capitol/Paradise...DANNY MOBED. He was a wonderful person. He lived nearby my house at PECHS Block-VI (Hill Park) and always obliged me and my friends with free passes for our favorite movies...and also treated us to patties and cupcakes besides coke! Many Government dignitaries have visited PARADISE Cinema as the guest of Mr. Mobed..and particular one I remember is Moulvi Tamizuddin Khan...Speaker of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan....!

Why PARADISE & CAPITOL didn't survive...is perhaps on account of the poor health of Mr. Mobed...who wanted to maintain the grandeur of the cinema halls...but was failing due to ill health while Danny alone was not capable to handle the spices which had started to add themselves in the cinema halls of
Karachi which also clearly showed that the good days of cinema in Karachi are approaching their end :(

If you are driving from Governor House towards Metropole area...right in front of the round about...which use to be the MUSICAL FOUNTAIN shaped like a SITAR, stood the famous and by the name..."REX" cinema adjacent to OOSMAN CHAMBERS and the building which then..had the office of the famous advertising company "LINTAS" (1960-70)....and REX Cinema always had melodramatic and comedy movies...and it literally had an old jallopy parked on the terrace of the main entrance area to promote and celebrate the success of "THE GREAT RACE" the movie..I saw 4 times in two months at REX cinema. Coll atmosphere...huge screen covered by velvet curtains...slowly moving to reveal the screen....with lights going low slowly...created a magic spell each time we watched a movie there. And it was in 1960-64 that i watched umpteenth movies at REX as I use to live bang opposite to the cinema hall at President's Estate (Now Governor House enclave towards Trinity Church area) and my buddy...Laeequr Rahman (now a pilot on Jumbo 747) was always my partner..with our sisters...also joining
us..for movies like COME SEPTEMBER etc..)

When REX got sick...doctors prescribed medicines...which were suggestions to make it survive by converting it into an auditorium...which was adopted by the owners and we did see a few upcoming private schools capitalize on REX AUDITORIUM for their functions...but buildingbaazi prevailed...and killed the hall for some mall or office blocks.....and cinemas kept on dying!

Coming down from Jinnah's Mazaar towards Bunder Road...there was this ( and still is..) a huge Automobile parts market...and right in its centre was the ever popular PLAZA CINEMA....and the area too..is popularly known as PLAZA QUARTERS also...where stands Ardeshir Cowasjee's favorite BVS MAMA PARSI School and the famous SAEED MANZIL the road of which takes you towards the famous JUBILEE CINEMA (which survives...!).
PLAZA CINEMA was an Urdu one...thronged with movie goers for its huge convenience on the availability of transport--specially after the late night (last) show...where Rickshaws, Taxis and even Buses plyed almost 24 hours! Watching movie was fun there...as the appetite for special PANI PURI outside just
beneath that huge tree..which still stands tall...with Dahi Barray Ki Chat..was perhaps the best of the vicinity! I saw "INSAAN BADALTA HAI" at Plaza...which was perhaps..Waheed Murad's debut with a small role!

Right across PLAZA cinema or parallel to it...towards the Misquita Gardens & Ankelsaria Hospital..stood a fairly big building having RENO Cinema...the odd or relatively boring part of the hall was that the movies could only be well enjoyed in winters--RENO was not an airconditioned hall :( but quality movies
were released their on sharing basis...like the release of SHARARAT *ing Mohammad Ali and Laila..and it was quite usual that a movie...in 60's & 70's (possibly even now at some places) was simultaeneously released in several cinema halls...that the four to six reels were swiftly exchanged from cinema to
cinema that the show must go on! RENO too...died! its natural death...!

Moving towards the frontage of Misquita Gardens...we would arrive at the area popularly known as PLAZA QUARTERS...but I termed it (and it became popular then in very early 60's...) as CINEMA LANE...on account of the fact that three cinema in a row stood there; GODEON (I remember its popular slogan "GET GOING THE GODEON's WAY"), EROS & RIVOLI, ....and by just a turn towards right..after the last cinema hall Rivoli...stood right in the corner....another cinema
hall..."KOHINOOR".

I distinctly remember that before the main entry to GODEON's stood the PLAZA Quarters branch of UBL (which is still there...) and this cinema hall showed only English movies...like "VIKINGS" and "A FAREWELL TO ARMS" which I saw there....It was a well decorated cinema and had the best sandwiches at the tuck shop it had on 1st floor grand-circle area. I also saw "GIDGET" series of Hollywood's teenage heart-throb movies....of which "GIDGIT GOES HAWAIN.." I found the best!
GODEON too became history...........!

EROS cinema belonged to my first (Happy Home) school mate Ejaz....who had this heroic of showing his richness by buying dozens of toffees and chocolates at school's tuck shop and while distributing them---inviting us to the movies...free...at his cinema hall. I saw "BEDARI" there and even met Rattan Kumar who was specially invited by Ejaz's dad for the show as Rattan was a child star then and a hero of that one of the earliest movies of Pakistan....in 1957-58.

RIVOLI came much later...EROS & GODEON...but RIVOLI was far far more grand with ambiance, pomp and show...having velvet covered reclining seats and ice cool
aircondioning. Agha G.A. Gul's prize production "NAILA" was premiered there...which ran packed house for several weeks! Meena Kumari's movie "PAKEEZA" was premiered there...and created quite a stir! Rivoli did not survive...it died when there were no sufficient funds with the owners to buy some important part of that cinemascope projector...which had done it's worth and needed a replacement. It was quoted to be Rs.150k THEN! the cost of that part!

Moving towards Jubilee area of Hoti Market....the first turning on right after RIVOLI....you would drive straight to the end where on the right side stood the beautiful "KOHINOOR" cinema--which then again, was one of the most enchanting place..geared up with all the necessities to make a viewer's short stay of
few hours..comfortable and worthy to watch the movie with interest. I faintly remember that probably...I saw "DIL MERA DHARKAN TERI" *ing Waheed & Shamim Ara?

KOHINOOR lost itself under the severe pressure of finances required to keep it breathing! The owners preferred fast bucks by selling the plot..then to continue with the cinema hall--:(

Moving ahead...touching that mini roundabout of Hoti Market....we see JUBILEE CINEMA..which is one of the oldest cinema hall of Karachi and strangely this hall survives but through high chemistry medicines:) and this cinema hall I remember from late 50's that in mid-sixties I watched movies like "SAAT LAKH"
and later..."GEHRA DAAGH"....of course having watched that super B&W (Indian) movie "BHAI BHAI" at the same cinema hall...and that song on Shashakila.. "AIE DIL MUJHE BATA DE" by Geeta Dutt...remains as infectious as ever! JUBILEE was not airconditioned--but the movies it released were!
Crossing-----Radio Pakistan, Karachi on Bunder Road and cruising towards Merewhether Tower.....you'd, then, pass by RITZ cinema opposite the shops of ATTAR & PERFUMES......where now stands a shopping arcade?? I saw quite many movies there...and it ended its crusade by getting messed up with Kung Fu & Karate and FANTOMAS kind movies!!

Continuing to proceed towards MWT....right near the famous JINNAH SPORTS (from where we use to buy - in 60's - the 5 and half ounce Sialkot-made cricket ball) and just before the KMC building... stood the LIGHT HOUSE Cinema....which is still remembered ardently by those who use to regularly avail the
opportunity of watch rare--Pakhtoon movies on limited basis. With Badar Munir fighting his way to stardom from a tea-boy at the Eastern Film Studios..the ever increase of Pakhtoon productions...saw Badar Munir become a heart-throb for hundred of thousands of pakhtoons--that literally took over LIGHT HOUSE Cinema and the hall got popular by also the large number of shops herein referred to as "LANDA BAZAAR" right in its arms....and the cinema hall thrived without A/C and smelled of niswarr--the aromatic compound---till it too perished !

(Continued)


The journey continuing..we trudge past NAPIER MOLE BRIDGE a.k.a NATIVE JETTY...towards Jackson (Keamari) area...we had this NAGINA Cinema which, some say, belonged to Aslam Bhatti (of Dubai's) family. The hall with limited seats had no airconditioning but most of the shows were houseful as the latest movies released in Karachi...were released simultaeneously at NAGINA due to a large number of populace around and at the Manora Island from where the cinema goer travelled by boats...to Keamari ( and still do ). NAGINA cinema was also popular with Dock workers! It vanished almost two decades back due to high costs and low income.
If we come to Karachi Airport and cross over to Malir Area...there were two cinemas halls which did thriving business on the main Malir Halt and Kalaboard Road...leading towards PASMIC or Thatta. I forget the names...but do remember having watched a few movies there too..with my school mate Aurangzeb Ishtiaq.

A little before the Old Airport in karachi...we have Shah Faisal Colony (former name being DRIGH Colony) across the railway line towards the divided portion of Faisal base (where Quaid-e-Azam landed when he arrived in Karachi on August-1947)....there was a cinema hall which I can never forget and which we nicked as SAVIOR because if you
were to face dissapointment at a city cinema hall on tickets being sold out...there was always an 80% chance that you would get a ticket at SHAMA Cinema...and reaching the cinema hall was relatively less costly..because of the local train and mostly a FREE ride! while the management at SHAMA Cinema was smart that they started the show at 3.30 PM i:e half an hour late then normal halls did. SHAMA was an ordinary cinema but now an extraordinary shopping mall for that locality!

Moving from Airport towards, the then, almost deserted road..which now is one of the busiest on traffic...which now takes you to Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Askari Housing near that huge petrol pump which also leads towards the Christian Cemetery and the National Stadium...the exact place where you see that MILLENNEUM MALL...stood "DREAMLAND" the FIRST ever DRIVE-IN Cinema of Pakistan...where..on its opening day...I can never forget...that the line up of cars..was almost from Drigh Road Railway Station on now.. main Shahrah-e-Faisal...(we have a flyover there now)....which covers miles...and people in the car...had thronged to see the first ever movie in drive in theatre which was "ANJUMAN" starring: Waheed Murad and Rani. DREAMLAND belonged to the JUNG family.....who lived at Queens Road. The theatre's car park having a chained (with a mini pole) speaker was affixed on the window of driver's side...and it was well synchronised with the screen image to provide clarity in sound and had the facility of low and high volume selection.

DREAMLAND had a wonderful cafe where sandwiches, light snacks and hot coffee, hot dogs, CRISPY CHIPS ( actual brand name..which also ran their advert. during the interval) and the first reel of the movie always being a cartoon of the DRIVE IN THEATRE attendant questioning someone on arriving at the theatre...and when the guest confirms that he IS a patron of DRIVE-IN....cinema, that cartoon character would bow and say "BE OUR GUEST!"

DRIVE-IN THEATRE....was a recluse too where...apart from watching movie under an open sky...many came with certain 'ahd O' paimaan......which became a rhyme and reason of many love affairs culminating to quite many marraiges--and some couples...grand-parents now, live happily ever after !!

There came two more DRIVE-IN theatres adjacent to Dreamland...but all the three died much to the persisting taunts of builders that such huge land is going waste with no public interest towards the movies and ambiance the theatres were trying to attract!

Gulshan-e-Iqbal then, not in sight--the cinema hall "NOVELTY" on the road leading from TEEN HATTI towards Nishtar Road...was a typical "ilaqaiee' cinema hall where the majority were females viewers..mostly AAPAs and CHACHEEs....burqa clad..and quite vocal in tears and sobbing that I can never forget the shrieking
and loud cries of quite many females during the crises scenes of "DEWAR BHABI" I saw with my cousins at NOVELTY who lived nearby at Jehangir Road.

Crossing NOVELTY we move towards the Golimar area where we had this SOCIETY Cinema just before the bridge which takes us towards Rizvia Society. I saw Waheed Murad's "SAMMANDAR" at Society Cinema because I could get that 6 to 9 show ticket at RENO. SOCIETY was not airconditioned but sort of conditioned to our requirements...as it had the best CHHOLLAYWALLA outside!

In Nazimabad...we had but ONE most popular RELAX cinema near Agha Juice Corner right adjacent to the huge roundabout with huge parking. RELAX the word attracted many but only during winters or at last show..for the hall was not airconditioned....but it did attract a large audience--mainly from Rizvia Society, Firdaus Colony
(behind Cafe Zaiqa) and the Nazimabad Number AIK also covering Sir Syed Girls College....near Muslim League Colony across pulliyas! NAYAB was another cinema in Nazimabad which had house full shows due to a limited number of seats....

When we move back to the city...we are fondly reminded of the TWO most visited cinema halls in the history of Karachi..

Yes--I talk of REGAL and ODEON right in the heart of Karachi near the main Abdullah Haroon (VICTORIA) Road...which is now the largest electronic & Mobile Phone market of Pakistan....which spreads till BAMBINO & LYRIC Cinema.

In early 60's REGAL mainly showed Indian movies...I remember I saw "AIK DOU TEEN" starring Moti Lal there...I also saw "AWARA", "AAB-e-HAYAT" and "AAS" and when, during the interval, the curtain of the cinema screen use to move or shuffle...I always thought that the filmstars behind..on stae are preparing to start their act! (that was in 1958 when I was 9 of age!).....moving a bit ahead of REGAL towards the Church...on Saddar Road, we had this ODEON cinema with special gates and adequate car parking space...in that most cogested area of Karachi. I saw "CHIRAGH-e-ALLADIN (where I saw the Genie for first ever time and almost believed that they are in Karachi also...." and "ANDAZ" of India there (Indian movies were banned in Pakistan after the 1965 war!)...!

The Cinema hall around PECHS near Nursery Area close to main Shahrah-e-Faisal which was spread on almost 4000 sq. yds..was KHAYYAM where my first cousin's husband Sultan Karamally, once established a restaurant also. The cinema hall was beautifully decorated and had splendid cooling. I saw "RAGEELA" and "PAYAL KI JHANKAR" there with my cousin Tariq Kuraishy. The cinema hall had the international standards including the best mayo roll one could think of!

KHAYYAM vanished....with huge memories still creating waves in the minds of many like me!

CONCLUSION:
==========
CINEMA HALLS in Karachi during late 50's through early 80's never witnessed voilence --- there was always a certain family atmosphere in cinema halls.
Sometimes, home cooked parathas and qeema were served by khalas and phoppis during the interval.

The manner in which the ciname halls were decorated with wonderful facilities to the viewers--is beyond imagination now. The toilets were clean and aromatically fresh air was continuous. The airconditioning was smooth and chilly! The quality and quantity of food items was amazing. If you asked for a PEACH MELBA...you WILL get the PEACH with MELBA and not only "MALBA" that you do...currently with a nail size peach!!
The sandwich we ate during the interval at BAMBINO had so much cheese and chicken that you felt like smiling and clucking!!!
The Choc Bar at CAPITOL: was nothing but CHOCOLATE and not a thin choco slice with BARAFF..you get these days!

CINEMA going then---was not only fun but learning! and I feel sad that after 40 years from today---there will be not much to remember and talk sweetly about the cinema halls of Karachi!

Before curtains--and finally...I would like to take into account the TWO cinemas which were, then, in our country PAKISTAN and we lost them besides many good friends, moments and memories! I visited Dacca (now Dhaka) at the then East Pakistan...twice; in 1958 and in 1967 to my Khalu G. A. Madani, ICS who was Chairman D.I.T and during 1967 visit Chairman EP-WAPDA. In my both the trips..I had the opportunity to see movies at NAZ & GULISTAN Cinemas.. the twins...with NAZ being on GROUND floor and GULISTAN being on FIRST floor in same building...bang opposite to BAITUL MOKARRAM and D.I.T Building/The Dacca National Cricket Stadium (now known as Bangabandhu). At NAZ I saw "APRIL LOVE" of Pat Boone in 1958 with my cousins....and at GULISTAN...I saw Waheed Murad's "EHSAAN" in 1967 with my cousin Hasan Madani (currently heading SHELL-Sri Lanka). I know my article states KARACHI on cinema halls...but somehow, I cannot forget these two cinema halls on my memory of cinema-going and umpteenth movies I watched from 1956 through 1981 in cinema halls.....99.8% in Karachi at the halls which are not there any more...but their memories shall live....till the memory I have and whatever scribed here....has not been taken from any scrap book or dairy...it ALL comes from my sweet memories---well maintained at some cell of the millions we have in our brains! and before MY memory gives up..I thought to pen down those meery 9sad) moments of the cinemas of yesteryears in karachi in my bad to worst English prose....which, may not carry unique grammar or words but would certainly wreak lot of wonderful moments and memories for those who had this unique opportunity to enjoy movie going and fun at the cinema halls of Karachi....1950's through late 80's !


Karachi needs cinema hall, cineplexes and the concerned authorities must provide some kind of attraction to the investors to come forward and build good cinema halls and even drive in theatres!

I received scores of mails and comments via emails..many suggesting that I should send my article for publishing in newspapers...! I will take the calculated risk soon---:)

Best,
Raju Jamil ]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/61691-aah-cinema-halls-karachi-i-may-never-forget.html The Closed Cinema Halls Of Karachi-IMAGES @ DAWN, 25 July-1999 by Raju Jamil http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/53506-closed-cinema-halls-karachi-images-dawn-25-july-1999-raju-jamil.html Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:44:16 GMT ClosedCinemaHallsofKarachi.jpg ClosedCinemaHallsofKarachi1.jpg





]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/53506-closed-cinema-halls-karachi-images-dawn-25-july-1999-raju-jamil.html PTV---First Ones (1964-69) http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/53268-ptv-first-ones-1964-69.html Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:08:45 GMT ALL THE NAMES YOU ARE TO READ IN THIS SUBMISSION...COMES FROM MY MEMORYOF YESTER-YEARS AT PTV. IF I MISS OUT ANY NAME..PLEASE REVERT WITH CONVICTION.------Regards, Raju Jamil

(PTV Debut-2nd December, 1967 from Karachi Centre in Amir Imam's play "Jahan Baraff Girti Hai" with Neelofer Alim, Agha Sajjad and Mehmood Ali)

===========

Pakistan Television Corporation...has come a long way since it first started its transmission in Pakistan on 27 November-1964 from Lahore! It has become an icon of the television monitor itself. Be it any channel....PTV will always have itself in one's mind.

Here's something interesting and worth a read;
  1. FIRST ON PTV;
Announcer (Male) : Tariq Aziz
Announcer (Female) : Kunwal Naseer.
Newscaster: Tariq Aziz
Newscaster (Female): Yasmin Wasti
Cameramen: Nisar Mirza and Anees Ahmed.
Make Up Artiste: Kamaluddin Ahmed.
Film Editor: A. K. Mussarrat
News Editor: Zafar Samdani
General Manager (Lahore) : Agha Bashir
General Manager (Dhaka) : Kaleemullah Fehmi
General manager (Karachi) : Z. A. Bukhari
General Manager (Quetta) : Shahzad Khalil
General Manager (Peshawar) : Jamil Afridi
Program Director: Aslam Azhar
Qari : Qari Ali Hussain Siddiqui.

LAHORE CENTRE:
Producers (hereinto referred as Director...currently);
Muhammad Nisar Hussain a.k.a MNH
Kunwar Aftab Ahmed,
Agha Nasir,
Fazal kamal,
Akhtar Vaqar Azim,
Azam Khurshid,
Ghufran Imtiazi,
Nusrat Thakurr,
Bakhtiar Ahmed,
Khowaja Najmul Hasan,
Munazza Hashmi,
Rashid Dar,
Farrukh Bashir,
Yawar hayat,
Ayub khawar,
M. Salim Tahir,
M. Azim,
Mushtaq Chaudhry,
Shaukat Zainul Abedin,
Qambar Ali Shah,
Khawar Sial,
Hafeez Tahir,
Tahir Naqvi.
Sikandar Shaheen.

Writers/Dramatists:
Ashfaq Ahmed,
Bano Qudsia (Mrs. Ashfaq Ahmed),
Kamal Ahmed Rizvi,
Anwar Sajjad,
Amjad Islam Amjad,
Asghar Nadeem Syed,
Riaz Batalvi,
Athar Shah Khan,
Shoaib Hashmi,
Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi,
Munno Bhai,
Yunus Javed,
Jamil Malik

(Known)Artiste/Actors;
Muhammad Qavi Khan,
Munawwar Taufeeq,
Abid Ali,
Firdaus Jamal,
Khayyam Sarhadi,
Aurangzeb Leghari,
Asif Raza Mir,
Samina Pirzada,
Mehnaz Rafi,
Tahira Naqvi,
Munawwar Saeed,
Naveen Tajik,
Shujaat Hashmi,
Usman Pirzada,
Ayub Khan,
Jamil Fakhri,
Saleem Nasir,
Hasnat Ahmed,
Irfan Khoosat,
Asim Bokhari,
Syed Afzaal Ahmed (Chitta),
Mustansir Hussain Tarrar,
Uzma Gillani,
Aslam Azhar,
Nayyar kamal,
Rabia Tabassum,
Sikandar Shaheen,
Najma Mehboob,
Nisar Qadri,
Kunwal naseer,
Rafi Khawar (Nanna)
Madiha Gauhar,
Khalid Abbas Dar,
Nighat Butt,
(Unforgettable!!) ROOHI BANO.

KARACHI CENTRE:
Producers;
Mohsin Ali,
Qasim Jalali,
Zaheer Khan,
Shirin Khan (later Shirin Azim w/o Athar Vaqar Azim),
Tajdar Adil,
Nazimuddin,
Ishrat Ansari,
Amir Imam,
Zaman Ali Khan,
Riaz Farshori,
Nighat Amin,
Agha Nasir,
Kunwar Aftab Ahmed,
Arif Rana,
Aftab Azeem,
Shoaib Mansoor,
Shahzad Khalil,
Zaheer Bhatti,
Tashbihul Hasan Syed,
Abdul Karim Baluch,
Sultana Siddqui.
Writers/Dramatists;
Fatima Surraiya (Bajya),
Asghar Butt,
Shaukat Siddiqui,
Ghulam Abbas,
A. Hameed,
Hameed Kashmiri,
Kamal Ahmed Rizvi,
Sultana Fakhar,
Asad M. Khan,
Naheed Sultana Akhtar,
Zakia Akbar,
Shahid Kazmi.

Artiste/Actors:
Talat Hussain,
Zeenat Yasmine,
Ishrat Hashmi,
Zaheen Tahira,
S.M.Saleem,
Muhammad Yusuf,
Iqbal Lateef,
Iqbal Tareen,
Zafar Masud,
Ghazala Rafiq,
Khurshid Talat,
Santosh Russell,
Shakil,
Mehmood Ali,
Qazi Wajid,
Raju Jamil,
Salim Nasir,
Anwar Beg,
Arshe Muneer,
Behroze Subzwari,
Zaher Khan,
Zahoor Ahmed,
Neelofer (Aleem) Abbasi,
Khalid Nizami,
Shahnaz Ghani,
Mehmood Khan Moodi,
Afzaal Chitta,
Javed Sheikh,
Shaista Qaiser,
Mohsin Shirazee,
Zooni Butt,
Saqib Sheikh,

RAWALPINDI-ISLAMABAD CENTRE:
Producers;
Jamshed Farshori,
Shakir Aziz,
Qaiser Farooq,
Anila Shaheen,
Munazza Hashmi,
Tariq Mairaj,
Azam khurshid,
Akhtar Vaqar Azim,
Aftab Asrar,
Farkhunda Shaheen,
Nazeer Amer,
Qaiser Naqi Imam,
A. Salam Khan.

Artiste/Actors:
Sarwat Atiqullah Sheikh,
Dr. S. A. Rehman,
Mjeed Abid,
Sajjad Kishwar (on records to have delivered a dialogue of 20 minutes wihout any camera cut in a live play)
Khalid hafeez,
Mumtaz Mufti's daughter (cant remember her name at the moment),
Aksi Mufti,
Huma Nawab,
Ayaz Naik,
Nayyar Kamal,
Agha Waheedur rahman,
Sehr jalal,

QUETTA CENTRE:
Producers;
Sajjad Ahmed,
Dost M. Katkori,
Zeb shahid,
Maazullah,
Dur Muhammad Kasi,
Attaullah Marri,
Aijaz Ahmed Niazi.
Artiste/Actors:
Abdul Rauf khalid,
Jamal Shah,
Ayub Khosa,
Tahir Naqvi,
Mona Junejo,
Tahir Lahiri,
Huma Akbar (CARAVAN fame. Zeba Bakhtiar's sis in law)
Saira Khan.

PESHAWAR CENTE:
Producers;
Ateeq Siddiqui,
Jehanzeb Suhail,
Karim khan,
Masood Shah,
Zawwar Din Afridi,
Tariq Saeed.

Artiste/Actors:
Majabeen Qizilbash,
Firdaus Jamal (though his debut technically..is from Lahore)

SOME FAMOUS ANNOUNCERS, COMPERES, ANCHORS AND NEWS READERS OF PAKISTAN TELEVISION;
Tariq Aziz, Rahat Saeed, Ghazala Yasmine, Khushbakht Aliya, Naeem Bukhari, Dildar Pervez Bhatti, Iftikhar Arif, Laeeq Ahmed, Zia Moheyuddin, Obaidullah Baig (actual name HABIBULLAH), Qureshpur, Rukhsana Ameer, Azhar Lodhi, Khalid Hameed, Ma'para (Zaidi) Safdar, Ishrat fatima, Shaista Zaid, R. Hemrani, Shahzadi Sadiq, Anjum saleem, Kunwal Naseer, Samina Abbas, Yasmin Khalid, Mehtab (Channa) Akbar Rashdi....the list goes on........... ]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/53268-ptv-first-ones-1964-69.html The Softer Side of Mr. Jinnah http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/53262-softer-side-mr-jinnah.html Thu, 02 Apr 2009 06:10:14 GMT *THIS IS NOT MY WORK--OBVIOUSLY--BUT I FIND IT WORTH A MOUNTAIN OF GOLD--TO PLACE IT ON MY BLOG--FOR THE READING PLEASURE OF MY GOOD FRIENDS ON THIS FORUM--------------Raju Jamil, Karachi* ================================ *_The Softer Side of Mr. Jinnah_* Darwaish *More than 61 years... THIS IS NOT MY WORK--OBVIOUSLY--BUT I FIND IT WORTH A MOUNTAIN OF GOLD--TO PLACE IT ON MY BLOG--FOR THE READING PLEASURE OF MY GOOD FRIENDS ON THIS FORUM--------------Raju Jamil, Karachi
================================

The Softer Side of Mr. Jinnah
Darwaish

More than 61 years have passed since the death of founder of Pakistan , Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. But even today, nothing about Jinnah seems ordinary —not his legal career, politics, personal life, his legacy and even the property he left behind.
The great South Asian intellectual Eqbal Ahmed once described Jinnah as an enigma of modern history. His aristocratic English lifestyle, Victorian manners, and secular outlook rendered him a most unlikely leader of India ’s Muslims. Yet, he led them to separate statehood, creating history, and in Saad R. Khairi’s apt phrase, “altering geography”.

Much has been written about Jinnah’s legal career, politics, his role as a founder of Pakistan and his vision, but even today, very little is known about Jinnah’s personal life. This was probably because Jinnah never had time to write a diary or an autobiography and whatever little he wrote was formal and matter of fact.

For most of his life, he remained reserved, taciturn and secretive. He wrote his will in May, 1939, but it was only after his death that Liaquat Ali Khan, his close associate and the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, came to know that he was its trustee and executor. His only child, Dina Wadia, has hardly ever spoken about her father in public. So furious was Jinnah with Dina that he disowned her after she married a Parsi man against his wishes, and yet he left two lacs for her in his will. Akbar Ahmed’s movie Jinnah had just ten to fifteen minutes on Jinnah’s personal life, which are nowhere near enough.

Jinnah’s first wife, fourteen year old Emibai from Paneli village, died just eight months after he left for London at age sixteen in 1892, to join Graham’s Shipping and Trading Company, which conducted business with his father in Karachi. It was a forced marriage, as Jinnah’s mother was afraid that if he went to England , he might end up marrying an English girl. He barely knew Emibai.
Jinnah’s second marriage with the most beautiful girl of Bombay - Ruttie: The Flower of Bombay - was like a fairy tale. It began in the summer of 1916 in Darjeeling or “Town of the Thunderbolt” (how appropriate considering what was to happen there).

Jinnah had established himself as a lawyer and a politician by then and had become friends with Sir Dinshaw Maneckjee Petit, the son of one of the richest and most devoutly orthodox Parsis of the 19th century. The Petit`s chateau overlooked Mount Everest and it was there Jinnah met his only daughter Ruttenbai Petit or Ruttie as she was popularly called. Merely sixteen at that time, Ruttie was a charming young girl. Stanley Wolpert writes in Jinnah of Pakistan:
“Precociously bright, gifted in every art, beautiful in every way. As she matured, all of her talents, gifts and beauty were magnified in so delightful and unaffected a manner that she seemed a fairy princess”.

A dazzling beauty and full of life, Ruttie had exquisite taste and affable manners. Quick-witted, she was easily one of the best dressed and most popular women among the elitist circles of Bombay . She was intellectually far more mature than other girls of her age, with diverse interests ranging from poetry (Oscar Wilde being her favorite, whom she often recited) to politics. Her large collection of books, which remained in Jinnah’s possession after her death, reflected her deep interest in poetry, literature, history, occultism, mysticism and sorcery. She was an excellent horse-rider.

She attended all public meetings and was inspired by Annie Besant’s Home Rule League. A fierce supporter of India for Indians, Ruttie was once asked about rumors of Jinnah’s possible knighthood and whether she would like to be Lady Jinnah. She snapped that she would rather be separated from her husband than take on an English title.

Jinnah on the other hand also had a special interest in acting and in Shakespeare’s dramas. While in London , he had acted in some Shakespearean plays and even considered seriously taking up acting as a profession. It was his dream to play Romeo at The Globe in London . Khwaja Razi Haider thinks it was probably Jinnah’s deep interest in Shakespeare that gave him insight into the intricacies of the human character, which he was to use for grasping the essentials of Indian politics.

Jinnah was thirty-nine and Ruttie sixteen, but the age difference proved no obstacle in their love. Love has no logic. He was enamored by her beauty and charm and she was awe- struck by “Jay”, as she called him. Jinnah asked Sir Dinshaw for Ruttie’s hand in marriage, who became furious and refused. Jinnah repeatedly pleaded his case but Dinshaw never gave in, as Jinnah had a different faith and he was more than twice Ruttie’s age. Their friendship ended and Dinshaw forbade Ruttie from meeting Jinnah while she lived in his house. He even got a court injunction restraining Jinnah from meeting her (a pity no biographer has yet traced the court papers). The couple continued to meet secretly, and patiently waited for two years until February 1918 when Ruttie turned eighteen, and was free to marry. She walked out of her parental home to which she was never to return, and converted to Islam at Bombay ’s Jamia Mosque, under the Muslim Shiite doctrine, on April 18, 1918.

The very next day, Jinnah and Ruttie got married in a quiet ceremony at Jinnah’s Malabar Hill house in Bombay . Located in a most highly-priced area today, with Maharashtra’s Chief Minister as its next-door neighbor, Jinnah House remains a dispute between India , Pakistan and Dina Wadia. Jinnah owned another house at 10 Aurangzeb Road , Delhi , which he sold just before Partition for Rs 3 lacs. The Dutch Ambassador to India lives there now. The Raja Sahib of Mahmudabad, who signed as Jinnah’s witness, and a few other friends, attended the wedding. Maulana Muhammad Hasan Najafi was Ruttie’s witness. Jinnah presented the wedding ring to Ruttie, a gift from Raja Sahab, and paid Rs 125,000 as haq mehr . Nobody from Ruttie’s family attended the wedding. Interestingly, the Nikah Nama stated “Ruttenbai” as the bride’s name instead of Marium, her Islamic name. The honeymoon was first at Raja Sahab’s Nainitaal mansion, and then at the Maidens Hotel, a magnificent property just beyond the Red Fort.

Gandhi’s grandson Raj Mohan Gandhi writes about the wedding in his book Understanding the Muslim Mind:
“For the first time in his life, a girl had absorbed Jinnah’s emotions. Living for sometime now in a large but somber Malabar Hill house, bowing to ladies (on occasional parties) and praising their sarees but otherwise keeping a distance from them, (he) fell in love with Ruttenbai. Joy and laughter entered Jinnah’s life. The Malabar Hill house became brighter.’ She presented him with a daughter, Dina. But, ‘Alas the happiness was not destined to last; Sarojni’s veiled prediction of trouble came true”.
Sarojni Naidu was a huge admirer of Jinnah, wrote several poems and prose pieces on him, and many historians believe she was in love with him.

She wrote this about the wedding in a letter to Sir Syed’s son, Syed Mahmud:
“So Jinnah has at last plucked the Blue Flower of his desire. It was all very sudden and caused terrible agitation and anger among the Parsis; but I think the child has made far bigger sacrifices than she yet realises. Jinnah is worth it all – he loves her; the one really human and genuine emotion of his reserved and self-centred nature. And he will make her happy.”

The first few years of the marriage were a dream for Ruttie and Jinnah, the happiest time of their lives. They traveled across India , Europe and North America together. Ruttie watched with a great sense of pride the feverish political activity of her husband. She would be seen in the visitors’ gallery when Jinnah was due to speak, accompanied him to the High Court, and even attended the Nagpur session of the Congress in December 1920.

According to Wolpert:
“They were a head- turning couple; he in his elegant suits, stitched in London , she with her long, flowing hair decked in flowers. There was no limit to their joy and satisfaction at that time. Their only woe was Ruttie’s complete isolation and ostracism from her family.”
Kanji Dwarkadas, a veteran leader of Congress and a close friend of the couple, who looked after Ruttie during her last days, wrote in his book Ruttie Jinnah: The story of a great friendship:
“For Jinnah, who was not generous in many matters, no expense was too great to satisfy the extravagant claims of the baronet’s spoilt child. During a visit to Kashmir , she spent Rs 50,000 in refurnishing the boathouse and Jinnah gladly paid all the bills. He treated her wonderfully well, and paid without a murmur all the bills necessitated by the luxurious life she led. Ruttie’s fabulous beauty, spontaneous wit, and immense charm have been praised to the neglect of her serious interests.”

Even though Ruttie was much younger than Jinnah, she made him a very happy man. They had no separate existence and Jinnah found her a great source of inspiration. He resigned from the Orient Club where he used to play chess and billiards. He was so deeply in love with Ruttie that he would return from the law courts on time each day and talk to her for hours on end.

Unfortunately, their happiness was short- lived and the marriage started to crack after 1922-3. What caused the ruination of the Jinnah-Ruttie marriage? Was it Jinnah’s busy political life and his inability to give enough time to Ruttie, their age difference, or their incompatibility of temperaments? He was cold, introverted and domineering. She was young, extroverted, glamorous. There is no clear answer but the fact remains that Ruttie and Jinnah still loved each other despite the rift in their marriage. It is evident in every letter Ruttie wrote during that period, and every book written on their relationship. She moved to London with Dina in 1922 and from there too, her heart was still set on her life with Jinnah. She wrote in a letter to Kanji in India :“And just one thing more - go and see Jinnah and tell me how he is - he has a habit of overworking himself and now that I am not there to tease and bother him, he will be worse than ever.”

After her return, the couple tried one more time to save their failing marriage and took a five-month tour to Europe and North America together. But the rift grew and by January 1928 they were virtually separated, when Ruttie became seriously ill with cancer. Shortly before her death, she wrote a letter to Jinnah from Marseilles , France where she had gone for treatment. It turned out to be her last letter to him (larger view of original hand-written letter with typed text here and here).
S. S. Rajputana,
Marseilles 5 Oct 1928
Darling – thank you for all you have done. If ever in my bearing your once tuned senses found any irritability or unkindness – be assured that in my heart there was place only for a great tenderness and a greater pain – a pain my love without hurt. When one has been as near to the reality of Life (which after all is Death) as I have been dearest, one only remembers the beautiful and tender moments and all the rest becomes a half veiled mist of unrealities. Try and remember me beloved as the flower you plucked and not the flower you tread upon.

I have suffered much sweetheart because I have loved much. The measure of my agony has been in accord to the measure of my love.

Darling I love you – I love you – and had I loved you just a little less I might have remained with you – only after one has created a very beautiful blossom one does not drag it through the mire. The higher you set your ideal the lower it falls.

I have loved you my darling as it is given to few men to be loved. I only beseech you that the tragedy which commenced in love should also end with it.

Darling Goodnight and Goodbye ----
Ruttie
__________________________________________________ ____

It is a pity that none of the letters that Jinnah wrote to Ruttie have ever been made public.
M.C. Chagla, a former Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court and a diplomat at the UN, has described the last days of Ruttie and Jinnah’s marriage in his book “Roses in December”. Chagla knew the couple very well, as he assisted Jinnah at his chambers during that time. He idealized Jinnah but severed all ties when he began working on the idea of an independent state for the Muslims of India.

He writes:
By 1927, Ruttie and Jinnah had virtually separated. Ruttie’s health deteriorated rapidly in the years after they returned from their final trip together. Ruttie lived at the Taj Hotel in Bombay, almost a recluse as she became more and more bed-ridden. Kanji continued to be her constant companion. By February 18, 1929 she had become so weak that all she could manage to say to him was a request to look after her cats. Two days later, Ruttie Petit Jinnah died. It was her 29th birthday.

She was buried on February 22 in Bombay according to Muslim rites. Jinnah sat like a statue throughout the funeral but when asked to throw earth on the grave, he broke down and wept. That was the only time when I found Jinnah betraying some shadow of human weakness. It’s not a well publicised fact that as a young student in England it had been one of Jinnah’s dreams to play Romeo at The Globe. It is a strange twist of fate that a love story that started like a fairy tale ended as a haunting tragedy to rival any of Shakespeare’s dramas.”

The second time Jinnah ever broke down was in August 1947 when he visited Ruttie’s grave one last time before leaving for Pakistan . The architect of Pakistan paid a high price for Partition by leaving two of his most beloved possessions on ‘the other’ side of the border, the Jinnah House on Malabar Hill where he had the happiest moments of his life, and his beloved wife Ruttie who remains buried in Bombay. Jinnah left India in August 1947, never to return again, but he left behind a piece of his heart in a little grave in a cemetery in Bombay. ]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/53262-softer-side-mr-jinnah.html <![CDATA[THE FIRST MILESTONE FOR DILIP KUMAR ---- "ANDAZ" (1949)]]> http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/52501-first-milestone-dilip-kumar-andaz-1949.html Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:24:14 GMT
THE FIRST MILESTONE FOR DILIP KUMAR ---- "ANDAZ" (1949)

ANDAZ was released on March 21, 1949 at the Liberty in Bombay, and was an instant box-office hit...and now even after 60 years, it is listed among Indian Cinema's all-time hits.

ANDAZ is the first major milestone in Dilip Kumar's career. He had given good performances before Andaz...he had had hits before ANDAZ...but none gave him the star status that ANDAZ did. And more than that! The film established him as a major historionic talent. It was with this film that the sobriquet Tragedy King got attached to his name for the rest of his career. In brief, there was no looking back after ANDAZ!

For Mehboob Khan, ANDAZ was a turning point in his career. Mehboob's films proceeding ANDAZ were unadulterated romantic musicals with a quaint old-fashioned look (ANOKHI ADA, ANMOL GHARRI) and though they were huge commercial successes, Mehboob was keen on giving all his future films a modern look. Maybe it had something to do with a nation's upbeat mood in the immediate post-Independence period. Or maybe it had something to do with Mehboob's recent Hollywood visit where no less a filmmaker than Cecil B' Demille, who was also his idol, had described his early HUMAYUN as "one of the finest examples of cinema art to come out if India".

The film industry in India, say's Sanjit, was already in a state of flux. Old stars were on their way out and new faces were showing up in the trade papers every day.

New stories were being told using the latest narrative techniques (something which I see happening in private productions for TV serials in Pakistan these days!). Mehboob's script was ready and he wanted to make it in the best traditions of Hollywood. ANDAZ tells the story (by Shams Lukhnavi) of an immensely rich girl Neena (NARGIS) who lives the life of the idle rich. She befriends Dilip (Dilip Kumar) who sves her from a riding accident. Dilip misunderstands her friendship and falls passionately in love with her. This misunderstanding is further fanned when Neena asks Dilip to look after her estates after the death of her father.

Enter RAJAN, a childhood turned England-returned fiance who matches her step in her idle but larger-than-life lifestyle. In spite of the number of intense numbers Dilip croons to her, neither she nor Rajan realise he is putting into song his heartbroken torment. They continue to plan their wedding and it is only on the wedding night that Dilip reveals his love for Neena, thus sowing a suspicion in Rajan's mind that the two have had an affair.Matters come to a head and Neena shoots down Dilip. Neena is brought to trial but Rajan refuses to help her in her case until he discovers a crucial letter written by Dilip but never read. By then it's too late!

ANDAZ is said to be a TRUE story which happened in Lucknow--as also confirmed by Shams Lukhnavi but disdain that he never revealed who the real Dilip, Neena & Rajan were--of his father's ancestors. But the script by S. Ali Raza gives it a totally new dimension, imbuing it with so many unspoken insights into the idiosyncrancies of the rich, the nature of youthful bonding and the pangs of unrequited love. It is a dark moralistic tale of what happens when the permissiveness of a western lifestyle is allowed to impinge on what is considered to be Indian culture. In a sense Mehboob was merely echoing the doubts of a million parents who were apprehensive about the fate of their offsprings who had taken to an excessively western lifestyle in the immediate post-Independence era (late 40s)

Ironically, the film itself is replete with the symbols of westernised lifestyle: ballroom dancing and badminton games at the club; elaborate birthday parties with songs sung at the piano; the formal western dresses for both the sexes; the free inter-mixing of the sexes. It is as if the film advocates the very lifestyle it seeks to condemn. Mehboob also uses symbolism and metaphor in the telling of the story: the two male leads tossing a flower at each other as they verbally duel over their lady love (almost like a badminton match); Dilip appearing in Neena's mirror almost as a physical representation of her innermost feelings for him.

Other highlights of the film include its low-key high-contrast cinematography (Cameramen Faridoon Irani), the opulent sets by K.Mistry and Nausha's eternally pleasant music. The songs are as fresh as they were back in 1949. The musical highlight of the film in Mukesh breaking out of the Sehgal mould and really coming into his own as well as Lata Mangeshkar singing for Nargis.

Mehboob Khan wanted fresh faces but not inexperienced newcomers (Pakistan Private TV Production directors' thoughts currently!!!!). He signed Nargis because he had introduced her in TAQDEER and she now was a successful star (exactly like Kazim Pasha introducing Sadia Imam in ULJHAN for PTV-K and within not long time----casting her for a private production that she was a successful artiste!). Nargis suggested Raj Kapoor with whom she was starring in AAG. Dilip Kumar was recommended by Naushad who had been favourably impressed with him while working in MELA. Unfortunately, Mehboob Khan was one of the film persons who had reacted adversely to the inclusion of Dilip Kumar in the cast of MILAN. He had even confided to Hiten Chaudhry, " You have got a chance to make a film on your own but I cannot understand why you should take risk with that new hero of yours."

That was in 1945. In 1948 however, Naushad's recommendation backed by the success of MELA and SHAHEED was enough to get the role for Dilip Kumar. This time, however, Mehboob's permanent cameramen F. Irani was not too happy with the choice. " Who is this monkey?". Faridoon is supposed to have asked Mehboob when the young actor came in on the first day for the shooting. Dilip went on to do more films for Mehboob but never really got along with Faridoon who continued with his dislike for the actor.

But Dilip vindicated his selection as one of the leading stars of ANDAZ. Calling it "Dilip Kumar's greatest performance so far", FILM INDIA, informs Sanjit, said, "Dilip Kumar improves beyond recognition under Mehboob's direction. He casts off his usual mannerisms and becomes versatile in the role Dilip, the frustrated lover. The way he portrays his struggle of suppressed emotions is a fine piece of histronic art. This is easily Dilip Kumar's greatest performance so far"

ANDAZ collected a whopping seven lakhs in 28 weeks at the Liberty in Bombay, which had been inaugurated with the film.

Sanjit Narewaker...insists on taking this into aspect in my crusade for research on DILIP KUMAR and his movies----that, quote Sanjit; the film went on to become a classic but at the time of its run at the theatre the film was an ill omen for Mehboob and his stars...
  • Mehboob's mother passed away a week before the film's intended premiere which had to be delayed.
  • Mehboob's younger brother died in a motorcycle accident.
  • Mehboob's property at Bandra (now housing Mehboob Studios) was attached under Evacuee Ordinance and Mehboob was declared evacuee.
  • Nargis lost her mother.
  • Dilip Kumar was assaulted by goons at Worli.
-END

-Raju Jamil (Karachi)
Research assistance: Sanjit Narwekar, Pune ( My friend from Abudhabi days---mid 80s)
]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/52501-first-milestone-dilip-kumar-andaz-1949.html <![CDATA[MADHUBALA, DILIP KUMAR, K.ASIF & MUGHAL-e-AZAM....]]> http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/52341-madhubala-dilip-kumar-k-asif-mughal-e-azam.html Mon, 09 Mar 2009 07:09:47 GMT
MADHUBALA, DILIP KUMAR, K.ASIF & MUGHAL-e-AZAM....
THE STORY UNTOLD!
(Full Version) .

When I sent my research papers to Sanjit & Raja in India--the article I had written when MUGHAL-e-AZAM was digitally converted into a full length color movie---Raja was baffled when he called on phone and said that it was amazing on how close to the truth my article was. Sanjit laughed and said that he could be my doosra janam--Hindus strongly believe in.
Nevertheless, what I am to scribe below on subtitle---contains 60% of Sanjit's submission upon my request, 20% Raja's and the rest belongs to my own study--having watched almost ALL of Dilip's movies and surfed every bit of website and article and magazines on the great actor
(Raju Jamil)


----------

Dilip Kumar almost missed being in MUGHAL-e-AZAM (1960). The film was planned by K.Asif in the mid-1940s and its main financial backer was Shiraz Ali Hakim, as informs my cousin from Jaipur, who had recently given the young film maker a break with PHOOL in 1945 right after the end of World War-II.

He also recommended Dilip Kumar for the role of Prince Salim but K. asif, even then the master of spectacle, was not keen on signing up a rank new comer. He knew (like they do currently in private -TV- productions of Pakistan!) that without stars no one would even look at the film. He, therefore, signed up Sapru, Nargis and Chandramohan to play the roles of Prince Salim, Anarkali and Emperor Akbar. Asif also signed up the famous Urdu writer Imtiaz Ali Taj (father of Yasmin Tahir) to script the film from his own original drama ANARKALI written in 1920s. Upcoming film writer Kamal Amrohi was signed to write the dialogues -- the success of MAHAL was still four years away. Anil Biswas, then at his height of creativity, was signed to score the music.

MUGHAL-e-AZAM went on the floors, a few reels even shot and then, the Partition-1947 intervened. Shiraz Ali Hakim, who had led a public meeting in the early 1940s to felicitate Muhammad Ali Jinnah, thought he would be victimized for it and so, decided to migrate to Pakistan after selling the FAMOUS CINE STUDIOS and other assets to Jangmohan Rangta. Among other things and films, MUGHAL-e-AZAM also came to a standstill.

However-----when the project revived in the early 1950s -- thanks to the financial backing provided by the construction magnate and multi-millionaire Shapurji Pallanji -- the scenario had changed completely. The actor selected to play King Akbar, Chandramohan, had died in 1949 at the young age of 44 years. Sapru was no longer the major star that he had been in the pre-Partition days. But another young actor who was making major strides in post-Independent cinema had just come within the K.Asif ambit. DILIP KUMAR was playing the lead in his own production HULCHUL, being directed by S.K.Ojha. But if K. Asif gained a hero on the sets of HULCHUL he also lost his heroine there. Nargis and Dilip fell out while shooting for HULCHUL and Nargis swore that it was the last film she would do with Dilip. She backed out of MUGHAL-e-AZAM and the hunt for a heroine was on again.

In the meantime the other stars were replaced. Prithivraj with his rich baritone voice was signed to play King Akbar. Ajit (Mona Darling fame of Zanjeer), whose own career as a leading man (remember the hit song MUFT HUAY BADNAAM on him!) was coming to close, was selected to play the loyal aide to Prince Salim as Durjan Singh while Asif's third wife Nigar Sultana was to play Bahar. Durge Khote was the only one who continued to play the role she had been initially signed for; Jodhabai...Akbar's Rajput wife and Prince salim's mother. The film went on the floor in real earnest in 1951 with no heroine in sight. The hunt was still on but something happened before another heroine could be found......?

Two other films on the same subject were announced. One was to be made under the M & T Studios banner and directed by Kamal Amrohi, who, thinking MUGHAL-e-AZAM had been shelved, had sold the story to the studio. The other was to be produced by S. Mukherji under the Filmistan banner and directed by the veteran director Nandlal Jaswantlal. Asif had a measure of control over Kamal Amrohi and so his version was quickly brought to a halt. Not so the Filmistan version! The studio went ahead with Bina Rai and Pradeep Kumar playing ANARKALI and SALIM. The film ANARKALI was released within a year and proved to be a major musical hit.

Things weren't easier for Asif who had a much grander opera-style film in his mind. A year of shooting later he finally shouted EUREKA when he found his heroine in one of Dilip's co-stars; MADHUBALA !!. She was Dilip Kumar's leading lady in two of his under production films. Ram Daryani's TARANA (1951) and R.C.Talwar's SANGDIL (1952). More than that, she was also the girl Dilip Kumar was in love with. She was the one about whom Dilip was to say in open court "She is the only woman I have loved in my life and I shall love her till my dying day" The unfortunate fact which history hadn't disclosed as yet was that their love would run its course during the production of the film which would take a full nine years to make.

Khatija Akbar in her book on MSDHUBALA writes; "During the making of MUGHAL-e-AZAM, Dilip Kumar was in the habit of dropping by to see Madhu even when he was not required for the day's shooting. He came on her sets and, if she was working, nothing was said. He stood watching; wordless glances were exchanged and he left, but his very presence was enough to transport Madhu to a world of happiness. She looked forward to these few moments with all her heart, her eyes searching for him. When she saw him, her day was made"

The passion for each other translated very well into the big screen ----- not only in the film they had done together but more so in an innately romantic film like MUGHAL-e-AZAM. Many film observers of the day believe that the film captures the actual stages of Dilip's own romance with Madhubala. Which is why the romantic scenes of the film are some of the most intimate ever shot in the history of Indian cinema that which has not yet been superceded by another till date--particularly (I wrote this part elaborately in my article also) the scene in which Dilip Kumar caresses Madhubala's ecstatic face with ruffles from an ostrich-feather. The story goes---that Asif realized it wouldn't happen with Madhubala's father Attaullah Khan on the set. Asif took his PR man, Taraknath Gandhi, aside and laid it down for him: "Buddhe Ko Phuttao....Jab Tak Buddha Yehan Rahega...Madhu Shooting Nahin Karsakti!.....Take the money and play cards with him...Loose.." It is said that Gandhi spent entire day in a remote office of the studio loosing rummy hands to Khan while asif filmed the love scene.

But even as the scene was being shot it was apparent that the lovers had fallen out with each other!!!!!

WHY Dilip & Madhu fell out with each other is a mystery. Unlike his other loves this affair could not have been socially forbidden. Both of them were Pathans. Both were compatible in age. Both were at the height of their film careers. More important, both were single and hence, there were no social impediments to their union. Many are of the opinion that it was Madhubala's fanatically stern father Khan Attaullah Khan who stood in the way of the marraige for fear of loosing Madhubala, who was, after all, the breadwinner for the entire brood of sisters the old man had sired. So---while the filming continued, K. Asif grew more and more impatient. The lovers were no longer talking to each other. If that wasn't bad enough. Madhubala's health began to deteriorate. She'd been diagnosed with "an enlarged heart with a hole in it." Paranoid to the core Attaullah Khan now even refused to allow his daughter to take part in important outdoor shots, out of fear she would get infected. Her illness was now so bad that she was suffering uncontrollable coughing fits. And yet, she continued to shoot.

Asif was a dreamer of huge ornate dreams but he was also a stickler to reality. When he wanted to show Anarkali in chains at the end of MUGHAL-e-AZAM he got her to don real chains made of iron and which weighed kilos rather than the rubber chains which filmmakers generally use. And to think that Madhubala was in the final stages of the heart ailment which would eventually claim her life.


By the time the climatic scenes were shot the romance was also at an end. So, not only were the chains real but the pangs of separating from one's beloved were also real because Dilip Kumar, as told by Thappar, barely looked at Madhubala (which was also noted by the cameramen and the makeup girl close to Madhu always on the sets----that make up girl was the mousi of Raja Thappar-----she died two years back at 78 of age) once the shots were done. And how true were the words of the song "Muhabbat Ki Jhooti Kahani Pe Ro'ye"

Madhubala suffered during these scenes but she refused to quit. For Madhubala, the film was a challenge. Having come up the hard way in life she knew that whatever she had done as an actress till then would pale in comparison to the film which she was making. In the final run she wanted to be the best of the ANARKALIs in Dindi cinema --- better than Salouchna (Ruby Meyers) and Bina Rai.It was her passport to immortality. So, even after the romance had died down, she continued to give priority to the film --- also hoping against hope that there would be some responsive spark from her former lover Dilip Kumar but he had moved on to other films...and other women. In spite of this tragic end to a wonderful love story the film celebrated LOVE and the song "Pyar Kiya Tou Darna Kiya" has, since then, become the anthem for defiant lovers of Indo-Pakistan.

MUGHAL-e-AZAM was released on August 5, 1960 and instantly captivated the heart of audiences all over India. Historically the film was inaccurate. Prince Salim (later to become Jehangir) had accumulated a total of 18 wives (Shaikh Zayed of Abudhabi beat him by a large margin..though!) during the course of his promiscruity but there never was an ANARKALI in sight! But who cared? The film's ornate and opulent settings (in particular, the Sheesh Mahal set which is rumored to have, then, cost Rs.15 Lakhs, its soulfully classical-based music (scored by Dilip favourite Naushad...who came to be known as 'Naushad-e-Azam' after the movie) and above all, its larger-than-life performances have placed the film in the all-time TOP TEN of Indian cinema.

Asif claimed to have spent 20 years and Rs.1.25 Crores (of that time---safely Rs.100 crores now) in the making of MUGHAL-e-AZAM.

As usual FILM INDIA, giving thumbs down to everyone in the film, had the last word. It wrote, "MUGHAL-e-AZAM must be seen to realise how much a man can do in 20 years and with Rs.1.25 crores belonging to a PARSI-multi millionaire"

-END

-Raju Jamil (Karachi)
Research assistance: Sanjit Narwekar, Pune and Raja Thappar-Delhi.
(Both my friends from India)

Some memorable scenes/clips from; Mughal e Azam;




The story goes---that Asif realized it wouldn't happen with Madhubala's father Attaullah Khan on the set. Asif took his PR man, Taraknath Gandhi, aside and laid it down for him: "Buddhe Ko Phuttao....Jab Tak Buddha Yehan Rahega...Madhu Shooting Nahin Karsakti!.....Take the money and play cards with him...Loose.." It is said that Gandhi spent entire day in a remote office of the studio loosing rummy hands to Khan while asif filmed the love scene.




www.youtube.com/watch?v=plsRqFDk-2A

AND

MADHUBALA.....1933-1969
]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/52341-madhubala-dilip-kumar-k-asif-mughal-e-azam.html HEERA AUR PATTHAR http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51751-heera-aur-patthar.html Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:15:20 GMT HEERA AUR PATTHAR under FilmArts of Waheed Murad's Dad Nisar Murad...was perhaps the 3rd of their production..which had the newly debuted WAHEED MURAD (having done a side role as Sabiha's son in 'AULAD'-1961).

Directed by Pervez Malik, HAP became the first ever platinum jubilee (B&W) movie of Pakistan..which was wholly made in Karachi at Saeed A. Haroon's Eastern Studios and about 65% on location at some guava farms of Malir and nearby Goths..a few odd miles from Karachi Airport.

Starring; Waheed Murad, Zeba, Kamal irani, Ibrahim Nafis, Adeeb, Nimmo her sister Kammo, Nirala, Naz Begum, Agha Jan and some famous regular visitors of Eastern Studios like; Feroze (who wanted to make ASSALAM ALAIKUM which had the famous Salim Shahzad song; Muhabbat Ke Deeay Jala Lo) and two faces I can never forget--seen in many Waheed movies of Karachi--doing something or the other in tidbit roles as badmash aur a friend or someone. I think one's name was ANSARI ?

HAP covered just about all of Karachi's serene and quiet areas of those days. From the songs you are to see by clicking the links below, you'll see the famous musical fountain of Karachi which use to show off beautifully with water sprinkling and music played in front of the then REX cinema near Trinity church...jo ke subb gharatt hogaya Karachi se:(

You can also see the M. A. Jinnah road coming from Jinnah's mazaar...when it was under construction. Also the National Stadium Karachi where one could just walk-in....(now it's like you are a thief to even roam around that area:) )


Waheed did some shooting at his father-in-law Hamid Maker's 'H.M.SILK MILLS' at SITE area..also which involved him, Nirala, Ibrahim Nafis and Adeeb.

I remember ALL this by heart and its the first ever time I scribe all this...before my memory gives up the huge data it has stored on GB basis.

The LYARI people had declared HAP as their NATIONAL movie on account of Waheed and his movie-Dad Kamal Irani being donkey cart drivers in that movie and the fantastic donkey cart race Pervez Malik beautifully picturized at Nazar Mohammad Goth-Konkar near Malir farms.

The swinging ROCK song 'Diwane Ho Ke..Mastane Ho Ke..Aao Manayen Picnic...' was shot at KARACHI AIRPORT CLUB which still exsists but in horrendous condition now. It is located just adjacent to my UBL's Airport Main branch at Old-Old Airport.. now VVIP Airport...when you go through Star-Gate.

AIRPORT CLUB had one of the finest New year parties. My cousin Chicco Jehangir..I distinctly remember, danced JIVE there on LIPSTICK ON YOUR COLLAR....once. I was there as we use to regularly visit that club. It has a beautiful ambiance. A huge swimming pool (now filled with sand and rocks:( ) and a Squash Court. You'll see in one of the links below....the swimming pool and all...when Adeeb is seen spending his rich dad's money on his friends...and having fun...!:)

I saw HEERA AUR PATTHAR...at least 12 times (once a late night show with Ibrahim Nafis and Talat Hussain also..they both were Radio Artiste) at NAZ Cinema, Karachi opp: Nishat Cinema...while NISHAT survives...NAZ died and no thanks to Aslam for selling it off--where now stands NAZ PLAZA...!

HEERA AUR PATTHAR will live forever..for its strong story, melodious songs and superb acting of Waheed & Zeba..et al!


Watch...some popular songs of the movie;


ZEBA-WAHEED (Aaj Mujhe kiya Hua..);
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS_dHejml3w

DIWANE HO KE MASTANE HO KE...(ADEEB, FEROZE & OTHERS);
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc5im...eature=related (At Airport Club)

MUJHE AIK LARKI SE PIYAR HOGAYA (NIRALA & NIMMO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMiD1...eature=related

Mujhe Tum Se...MUHABBAT HAI (ZEBA-WAHEED)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uLFB...eature=related

GORI SIMTI JAI SHARAM SE (ZEBA-WAHEED)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dflzF...eature=related ]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51751-heera-aur-patthar.html ARMAN (1966) http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51750-arman-1966.html Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:14:05 GMT ------------
ARMAN (1966)
============
FILMARTS....'ARMAAN' was yet another blockbuster--right after HEERA AUR PATTHAR--which also did PLATINUM JUBILEE--at NAZ Cinema, Karachi.
The cast was quite an ordinary apart from Waheed Murad and Zeba, most belonged to Radio Pakistan-Karachi and Karachi Stage artiste' like;
ZAHOOR AHMED (NIAZ of KHUDA KI BASTI) as Waheed's dad, BIBBO (the famous visitor/betor at Karachi's famous horse race club), the then charming Rozina..(who married TV star of today...Faysal Qureshi's uncle Riffat Qureshi later. Her daughter SAIMA made it big in private productions-TV till recently).

Then there was Tarranum...the serious yet not so serious---mid 30's lady who vanished after appearing in but a dozen+ movies.
NIRALA (real name Muzaffar) having acquired a place in Waheed's eyes..was again there after HAP..as Waheed's close friend..pairing with Rozina.

Then it was this bloke called SOHAIL in the movie..who did but two movies---in his career-----for God knows reason--pairing with Tarannum (his only other movie was EID MUBARAK) and it looks like he had some money of his won invested...in EID MUBARAK--that he was given the role of Rukhsana's husband.

Others in ARMAN included; AGHA SARWAR (my school friend/cricketer; Mubasshir Sajjad's mamoon...Mubasshir's wife is the real sis of beautician
Nabila), blokes like Ansari and Sharafat.

Almost ALL the outdoor songs were filmed in MURREE and NATHIAGALI....including the famous 'BETAB HO UDHHAR TUM....' at the famous CECIL HOTEL-Murree.
AKELE NA JAANA was filmed at KASHMIR POINT near the famous Church and Park...near Governor's House.

ZINDAGI APNI THEEH ABB TUKK.....was filmed at the outskirts of Mall Road-Murree...down towards Pindi' Point.

KO KO KORINA was filmed at the EASTERN FILM Studios...where over 80% of the movie was shot in six straight months. I saw the filming of two
scene; Some parts of 'JUBB PYAR MEIN DOU DIL MILTE HEIN' and one take of Waheed Murad & Nirala...when Nirala is running away from the
house..ddue to his stupidity and Waheed pursuing him to stay back for the love of Dolly (Rozina).....!

ARMAN was a typical love-story well mixed with slapstick comedy as well as tragedy.....WAHEED as AAMIR a son of a rich man in lookout for an
eastern girl as his better-half...and not meeting eye to eye with his dad's family friend's daughter...while the widow of the family
friend...dejecting NAJMA (Zeba)..their geometrical family friend's orphan...at their house being liked by Waheed over her own daughter SEEMA
(Taranum)...and so forth on...that Seema already pregnant by her friend SOHAIL...gives birth to the child and Najma (Zeba) sacrifices her
love for the sake of the obligations on her by Begum Saheba.. that she claims the child to be hers..etc etc.

ARMAN had strong music..by Sohail Rana...equally strong direction by Pervez Malik and matchingly wonderful lyrics by Masroor Anwar. The
famous FOUR then--who ruled Karachi Film Industry for a while...were; WAHEED MURAD-PERVEZ MALIK-SOHAIL RANA and MASROOR ANWAR.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-D4N...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTHt1...eature=related

SOHAIL..the bloke can be seen in this scene;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5RH4...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5RH4...eature=related

I saw the shoots at Eastern Studios----courtesy Sohail Rana...our family friend...and I almost went in trance when I met WAHEED MURAD first
time ever...him being a close friend and school mate to my first cousin Ayesha's husband Shamimul Islam at Marie Classo.

I thought this was the first ever film production of Pakistan...where the producer....drove in his car (DATSUN BLUEBIRD) all the way to
Murree from Karachi (at a gas station..scene between Waheed and Nirala ....the car can be seen);
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwzTQ...eature=related
Plus Waheed also used his Caddillac for some powerful scenes...at entrance gate of his OFF: Tariq Road house which is still there...(in fact
me and my cousin..out of sheer craze for Waheed Murad..visited his Tariq Road house and insisted on his servant to call him outside and when
he came...we were sort of spellbound that we couldn't utter a word...while Waheed smiled and encouraged us to be coherent:) )...that was when
ARMAN was in full swing with all shows house full!
Therefore-------ARMAN' s most popular song which hit the then charts on radio Pakistan...then...were ;
AKELE NA JAANA (Kashmir Point park area-Murree);
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IRj5vcbQV4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IRj5vcbQV4

then on a more melodious and slapstick note--it was 'BETAB HO UDHHAR TUM' (filmed at CECIL HOTEL, Murree);
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loNK8gV0sC4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=loNK8gV0sC4

KOKO KORINA became the SONG of the YEAR (now of DECADES)...it was filmed at Eastern Studios--where they now film adverts (I did ROSE PETAL one there in 2007);
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjpmv...eature=related
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjpmvkIDPCU&feature=related

JUBB PYAR MEI DOU DIL MILTE HEIN....again at Eastern Studios..and interestingly..right after the filming of KOKO KORINA....the next day! with adjustment of set from a club to some gloomy situation and smoke et---but same characters around--including Agha Sarwar!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a_te...eature=related
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a_teo5sY3U&feature=related

ZINDAGI APNI THEEH ABB TUKK.....was filmed in Murree...near Kashmir Point (Khurshid Shirazee the female singer sang but one para; AIK PAL KI MUSKURAHAT ZINDAGI BHAR KA HAI ROGE...JANE KIYON MUSKURA KAR DIL CHURRA LE TAY HEIN LOGE...that's it and after that she was never seen or heard of!! the song...therefore---was the only one in her short career in singing!!!!!) ;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptOGK...eature=related
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptOGKvXu3HA&feature=related

AGHA SARWAR did two different roles in ARMAN....one as a guitarist shown in the song KOKO KORINA....and the other as Begum Saheba's MUNSHI.

He later migrated to London and regularly participated in BBC URDU SERVICE from Bush House, Strand, London.
ARMAN was the arman of almost entire pakistani movie lovers. It is still reckoned as one of the most appealing movie of FILMARTS which had every ingredient required to ensure a reasounding success for a film;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTFTv...eature=related
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTFTvPU-dvs&feature=related

HAIL WAHEED MURAD ! for giving us such huge and worthy entertainment which we...do not expect in foreseeable future of Pak Film Industry

Raju Jamil, Karachi ]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51750-arman-1966.html GULFAM (1961) http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51749-gulfam-1961.html Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:12:05 GMT
GULFAM (1961)
was directed by S. Suleman (who also directed Humayun Saeed's HUM SE JUDA NA HONA and ANAA in 2003 & 2004) which had his brother DARPAN as hero and pakistan ever young & robust lady MUSARRAT NAZIR..who decades back...came back to pakistan having lived a wonderful migrated life with her husband in Canada and instantly became popular with her super-hit song "LAUNG GAWACHA" she sang and videod for PTV. Then she suddenly disappeared but presumbly--she may have shifted back to her home away from home.

GULFAM was a costume movie--based on the influences ROMAN movies like the "Sign of a Galdiator" or "MESSILINA"
had on pak cinema then ( in 60's)....
as we did see moovies like BAGHI SARDAR also coming up of the like.
DARPAN & MUSARRAT NAZIR paired wonderfully in the movie GULFAM which..uss waqt ke lehaz se...was a success!
This song is sung by Salim Raza..and has remained as infectious as ever-Enjoy,


]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51749-gulfam-1961.html YE JO PTV “WARD” HAI…DESIGN ISSKA ODD HAI! http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51537-ye-jo-ptv-ward-hai-design-isska-odd-hai.html Sat, 14 Feb 2009 08:56:20 GMT *YE JO PTV “WARD” HAI…DESIGN ISSKA ODD HAI! by Raju Jamil*….for The News (2003) *Information is not culture. In the mind of a truly educated man, facts are organized, and they make up a living world in the image of the world reality. * *Many whom I met a day after the PTV 12th Award ceremony... YE JO PTV “WARD” HAI…DESIGN ISSKA ODD HAI! by Raju Jamil….for The News (2003)

Information is not culture. In the mind of a truly educated man, facts are organized, and they make up a living world in the image of the world reality.

Many whom I met a day after the PTV 12th Award ceremony was shown live from Convention Centre-Islamabad, thought that it is high time PTV must come out of it’s shell by recognizing the fact that talent persists or (now) exists globally in Pakistan and not within the four walls of PTV’s studios. The awards should also be considered for those in this field…not necessarily in PTV plays or programs only.

TV is another kind of car, a windshield of the world. We climb inside, drive it, and it drives us, and we all go in the same direction, see the same thing. It is more than a mobile home, it is a mobile nation. It has become, in our country, our common language, our ceremony, our style, our entertainment and anxiety, our sympathetic magic, our way of celebrating, mourning, worshipping. It’s flimsy glue, but for the present it appears to be the only thing which is holding us together!

I remember having read somewhere that “TV is not the truth”…of course it’s not…I consider it an amusement park, a circus, a carnival or a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers and sportsmen…specially cricketers.

Past five years or within, Television in Pakistan has become the entertainment which is flowing like water. With so many popular satellite channels managed by Pak-based groups, TV has become like a station bookstall…something we might pick up to titillate the brain very gently ought not to be observed with the same critical standards as something designed to feed the minds of our society.

Credit, however and at all cost, must go to people like (Late) President FM Ayub Khan, (Late) Altaf Gauhar and the wonder man Aslam Azhar ( I consider AA... the BABA-E-PTV ) who, by introducing TV in Pakistan, lifted the manufacture of banality out of the sphere of handicraft and placed it in that of a major industry…we see today.

Current Affairs accepted as the fact of life on almost all channels for their survival, but even more sought after is the profit via commercials which, primarily, is achieved through telecast of DRAMA which must continue to walk tiptoe and in agony lest it offend some tea or soap seller ( or buyer! ) from below the UMRAO JAN ADA line… but some very serious questions have cropped up about the volley of adverts. between the telecast of the serials and dramas and, reportedly, a very large majority of viewers are getting rather disillusioned and disgruntled on abrupt repeats which, they say, is spoiling their fun to watch and is becoming a waste of their time and money. They say that they do understand the necessity of commercial slots in between but voices speak of a fine management of same by the networks marketing departments.


At this point it will be in place to mention that there is an insistent tendency among solemn social scientists to think of any institution which features rhymed and singing commercials, intense and lachrymose voices urging highly improbable enjoyment, caricatures of the human nature in normal or impaired operation, and which hints implausibly at opportunities for antiseptic seduction as inherently trivial.

This is a great mistake. The industrial system is profoundly dependant on commercial television and could not exist in its present form without it.

Television in Pakistan, is a triumph of equipment over people, it is a kind of thing people pay attention to even if they don’t wish to. It is a chewing gum for the eyes! Television in Pakistan is first truly democratic culture – the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. ( But I do sometimes wonder…what people really want? ).

If any reader of this article is in grip of some habit of which he is deeply ashamed, I advise him not to give way to it in secret but to do it on TV. My fellow artists on TV would bear me out that no one will pass them by with averted gaze on the other side of the road. People will cross the road in order to say “We saw you on the telly”. Books and TV plays are diversions about which most of us exercise some decision even if our selection is based on totally misleading publicity. The movies are a twilit zone…..TV is even lower down the scale of human choice. We nearly always see it by default. We must remember that in Pakistan ( & maybe a few other under developed nations ) there are certain difficult problems on television…It is in the nature of pictures to reflect action. It is very difficult for them to represent thought or policy.

Finally, the responsibility of those responsible in this context…is to carry, television, into the greatest number of homes in Pakistan EVERYTHING that is best in every department of human knowledge, endeavor and achievement and to avoid the thing which are or maybe hurtful. It is occasionally indicated to the TV-Networks that they are apparently setting out to give the public what they think they (Public) need, not what they ( Public) want. But few people know that what they want and very few what they need. There is often no difference. In any case, I thought that it is better to over estimate the mentality of the public than underestimate it.

As an artist, it is my considered opinion that on TV an ounce of image is worth a pound of performance!

-end ]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51537-ye-jo-ptv-ward-hai-design-isska-odd-hai.html <![CDATA["ASHIANA" & "SHABNAM" the superhit B&W movies of Pakistan]]> http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51502-ashiana-shabnam-superhit-b-w-movies-pakistan.html Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:35:15 GMT "ASHIANA" produced under the banner of F&Y MOVIES was released in 1966. Typical family drama involving SAAS-BAHU enemity and a joint family getting bereft--the movie was SUPER DUPER HIT. I saw it 6 times at the famous NISHAT cinema-Karachi. The movie had BEST songs, scenerios (murree) and enjoyable comedy by the henpecked husband played by LEHRI opp; Asha Posley. The cast : Kamal, Zeba, Rukhsana, Habib, Lehri, Asha Posley, Faizee, Samia Naz (playing a vamp!), Asad Jaffery and the sinsiter sister in law to Rukhsana & Zeba..played by Nabila.
This song was picturized on CHARRA PAANI-MURREE Road in 1964. Incidently I am a witness to the shoot of Kamal & Zeba arguing about the Chevy Belair car Zeba is seen driving...which comes right after the song. I personally Syed Kamal as he comes from MEERUT..my mom's nanheeyaal...and kamal's mom..BUGNEE Khala was a close friend to my mom.
Enjoy the song..and all I wrote on the history of the movie...comes from memory and not some scrap book ! (Raju)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3ga9XEwn10

And...

"SHABNAM" was a super hit movie of mid 60's. I was in school then. Saw it in Rivoli cinema. The cast was huge; Muhammad Ali, Zeba, Kamal, Rani, Lehri, Kumar..all top stars then. It had hit songs. It was directed by Rashid Mukhtar. Songs were mainly sung by Rushdi. Location was mostly Lahore. This song takes you from Gulberg to Lahore Airport..Kamal rides his bicycle to receive his love Zeba coming from Rawalpindi. See the good old days of such meek traffic...on the famous CANAL which is now hardly big enough to crawl even..that we have so many cars plying. Many do not know that this movie had TWO endings. The first release saw RANI laying her life for her cousin KAMAL...at the hands of LEHRI...who played a villian for first time. The viewers strongly protested the ending that a remake was done where RANI survives. Aisa bhi huwa hai Pakistani filmoun mein..jo bohat kum loge jaante hein ! Enjoy the song by clicking on;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdmSRl8eE0s ]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51502-ashiana-shabnam-superhit-b-w-movies-pakistan.html <![CDATA["ASHIANA" & "SHABNAM" the superhit B&W movies of Pakistan]]> http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51501-ashiana-shabnam-superhit-b-w-movies-pakistan.html Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:34:11 GMT "ASHIANA" produced under the banner of F&Y MOVIES was released in 1966. Typical family drama involving SAAS-BAHU enemity and a joint family getting bereft--the movie was SUPER DUPER HIT. I saw it 6 times at the famous NISHAT cinema-Karachi. The movie had BEST songs, scenerios (murree) and enjoyable comedy by the henpecked husband played by LEHRI opp; Asha Posley. The cast : Kamal, Zeba, Rukhsana, Habib, Lehri, Asha Posley, Faizee, Samia Naz (playing a vamp!), Asad Jaffery and the sinsiter sister in law to Rukhsana & Zeba..played by Nabila.
This song was picturized on CHARRA PAANI-MURREE Road in 1964. Incidently I am a witness to the shoot of Kamal & Zeba arguing about the Chevy Belair car Zeba is seen driving...which comes right after the song. I personally Syed Kamal as he comes from MEERUT..my mom's nanheeyaal...and kamal's mom..BUGNEE Khala was a close friend to my mom.

Enjoy the song..and all I wrote on the history of the movie...comes from memory and not some scrap book ! (Raju)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3ga9XEwn10

And...

"SHABNAM" was a super hit movie of mid 60's. I was in school then. Saw it in Rivoli cinema. The cast was huge; Muhammad Ali, Zeba, Kamal, Rani, Lehri, Kumar..all top stars then. It had hit songs. It was directed by Rashid Mukhtar. Songs were mainly sung by Rushdi. Location was mostly Lahore. This song takes you from Gulberg to Lahore Airport..Kamal rides his bicycle to receive his love Zeba coming from Rawalpindi. See the good old days of such meek traffic...on the famous CANAL which is now hardly big enough to crawl even..that we have so many cars plying. Many do not know that this movie had TWO endings. The first release saw RANI laying her life for her cousin KAMAL...at the hands of LEHRI...who played a villian for first time. The viewers strongly protested the ending that a remake was done where RANI survives. Aisa bhi huwa hai Pakistani filmoun mein..jo bohat kum loge jaante hein ! Enjoy the song by clicking on;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdmSRl8eE0s ]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51501-ashiana-shabnam-superhit-b-w-movies-pakistan.html MUGHAL-e-AZAM ( Now a full length color movie ) http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51234-mughal-e-azam-now-full-length-color-movie.html Thu, 05 Feb 2009 08:11:29 GMT MUGHAL-e-AZAM ( Now a full length color movie ) By Raju Jamil (Published in IMAGES - 2005) WHENEVER ONE SPEAKS of grandeur, extravagance and opulence in Indian movies, the name that comes foremost to one’s mind is ‘Mughal-e-Azam” which, after 44 years of its release, has been converted into a... MUGHAL-e-AZAM ( Now a full length color movie ) By Raju Jamil (Published in IMAGES - 2005)

WHENEVER ONE SPEAKS of grandeur, extravagance and opulence in Indian movies, the name that comes foremost to one’s mind is ‘Mughal-e-Azam” which, after 44 years of its release, has been converted into a full length color film.. the progress of I.T and Science hailed !

There’s something so imposing about the film even now, that all other costume dramas we can think of simple pale in comparison.

“Mughal-e-Azam” can easily be termed as filmmaker K.Asif’s most ambitious venture and his most successful one as well. And look at the man’s track record – in his entire career-span, he made only four films and he is still regarded with more honor and respect than most of the Bollywood filmmakers we have heard of.

I remember being an ardent listener to the discussion between my father (Jamiluddin Aali) and his childhood friend from Dehli…India’s famous film story writer & poet Akhtarul Imaan (Father-in-Law of Amjad Khan a.k.a “Gabbar Singh” of ‘Sholay’ during Akhtar Chacha’s & my dad’s Abu Dhabi visit of mid-eighties for ‘Jashn-e-Qasmi’ during my UAE posting days) that; when K.Asif started work on this magnificent movie, he knew it was going to be one expensive film. And he was prepared to meet all the expenses on his own. But the time-span was something he was absolutely unguarded about. “Mughal-e-Azam” was in the making for 17 long years. It would just be fair to say that more than half of Asif’s career went into the making of one film.

When he conceptualized the movie, his first choice for the role of Shahzada Salim was the legendary actor Chandramohan, who had already proved his versatility in historicals like Sohrab Modi’s “Pukar” and Mehboob Khan’s “Humayun”. But the actor’s untimely demise brought the entire project to a grinding halt.

Asif took a while before deciding upon Dilip Kumar as the next choice, though rumours insist that he had even contemplated signing on Guru Dutt for the role one time.

Dilip Kumar was just the right man to portray the pain and passion of Shahzada Salim effectively to the core. His modulation, nuances and dialogue delivery brought alive the character of one of history’s most ardent lovers. Dilip once stated ( in an interview for Filmfare Magazine ) that the most credible factor about “Mughal-e-Azam” was that despite all the delay, the film still managed to retain its original flavor.

“Mughal-e-Azam” focuses around one of the most legendary love stories of all time – Shahzada Salim (Dilip) and Anarkali (Madhubala). Salim is the son of Emperor Akbar (Prithviraj Kapoor), ruler of India, who falls in love with a courtesan/kaneez to his mom Maharani Jaudabai. Obviously, this is too hard to digest for the Mughal Emperor ( still, in present era, it is heard that such tales shape up at the ends of those in rags-to-riches ) who tries his best to separate them. But nothing can come between the two lovers. When Akbar’s pressure tactics become unbearable for Anarkali, Salim declares war against his own father ( who can forget the famous dialogue of Dilip in that tense situation well delivered…. “Sheikho Ka Dil Koi Hidustan Ka Paya-e-Takht Nahin Hai Jis Pe Zille-Elahi Apna Hukum Chalaein”) BUT, the Emperor’s might is too overpowering for Salim and he loses the battle. Akbar then sentences him to death. True love then gathers eternal proportions when Anarkali decides to renounce her life in order to save her beloved Salim.

My extensive research on this historical beauty extracts that when “Mughal-e-Azam” was being made, the real-life love story of Dilip Kumar and Madhubala was at its peak. That further added to the poignancy of the screen drama. In fact, most people believed that this filmed engraved their love forever, after they tragically broke off a few years later. Even today, one of the most talked about scenes in the film is the one where an emotional Salim ruffles Anarkali’s face with a feather. This has gone down in movie history as one of the most effective love scenes ever picturised.

One of the other highlights of the film was the music composed by Naushad ( also known as Naushad-e-Azam due to his being declared as the Emperor of Music composition after Mughal-e-Azam) and the soul-stirring lyrics penned by Shakil Badayuni. ‘Pyar Kiya Tow Darna Kiya’, the song shot in grand Sheesh Mahal, is as immortal as the film itself. Incidently, then, the song was the only portion shot in color in the entire movie (then…probably, that was the filmmaker’s way of paying a fitting tribute to one of the most romantic songs ever) which has now been digitally converted and re-processed into a full length color film after over three dozen attempts made since 1998.

The dialogues by (Meena Kumari’s husband) Kamal Amrohi are a treat, specially in the face-to-face scenes between the two superstars, Dilip & Prithviraj Kapoor as the later was deliberately given heavier, more verbose lines in keeping with his style and overbearing persona. No other actor could have done as much justice to the character of Shehensha Akbar.

My good friend Shehla w/o Late Amjad Khan (Gabbar Singh), the eldest daughter of Akhtarul Imaan, during her visit to meet her sister Rakhshinda settled in Abu Dhabi also discussed “Mughal-e-Azam” with me on my infatuation to know more & more about the background of this magic film. Said she; When the film was halfway through, news already out that K.Asif had gone overbudget. But that didn’t make any difference to the maker. At a time (mid-fifties-early sixties) when black-n-white films were not fetching more than Rs. 3 to 4 hundred thousand per territory in the subcontinent. Asif demanded a whopping 1.7 Million..much more than the filmmaker ever expected. Asif’s logic, I presume, was very clear – he had made a film which everyone (including the viewers) associated with it would be proud of for generations. And with the representative of Indian Government recently presenting the DVD of the full fledged color version to our country’s President at Islamabad – Late K.Asif’s action has proved that he has right !

I thought K.Asif could never have thought of repeating the magic of “Mughal-e-Azam” as he did try his hand by making another film on an equally lavish budget, “Love & God”, with Guru Dutt in the lead role. In fact, research claims that he even shot for it. But Dutt’s sudden death forced Asif to reshoot the portions. Asif then signed Sanjeev Kumar which too got stalled due to Asif’s demise followed by Sanjeev’s and Bokadia took over, made it and released it in an unfinished format.

MUGHAL-E-AZAM …..is considered to be one of the most significant films ever made in Indo-Pak subcontinent and the fact not only me but I reckon there are millions who must have watched this movie on an average of at least five times (my viewing count exceeds twenty five) itself is a momentous homage to a man who made less than four films in his entire career and a standing ovation to Dilip Kumar (Yusuf Khan) for his outstanding performance par excellence.
-end ]]> arjay http://www.paklinks.com/gs/blogs/arjay/51234-mughal-e-azam-now-full-length-color-movie.html