October 22, 2006	Sunday	Ramazan 28, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: A number of intellectuals, writers, admirers and friends gathered at the Civil Junction Friday night to remember Khalique Ibrahim Khalique, the legendary documentary film-maker, poet and writer of stylish, sparkling prose.

Piece by piece, Prof Fateh Mohammad Malik, Ashfaque Saleem Mirza, Kishwar Naheed, Mushir Anwar and his poet son, Harris Khalique, reconstructed Khalique’s lifetime work in the cinema, literature, and also spoke of his emotional intensity for the socialist cause and deep humanism.

For some, like Prof Fateh Muhammad Malik and Usman Qazi, the film-maker was enchanted with the progressive causes but retained his good nature and civilised behaviour in dealing with adversaries and people poles apart ideologically.

Prof Malik said he met Khalique only a few times but had developed a spiritual connection and literary admiration after reading his books from which the author came out as a witness to the Indian Muslim civilisation of the first half of the 20th century. Prof Malik eulogised Khalique’s intellectual calibre and mentioned that he had a remarkable tolerance for dissenting views.

Usman Qazi said, “today men like him are needed much more than before because our society is in a state of turmoil and crisis”. We should demand from our artists and writers to leap out of the labyrinthine frog well of self-aggrandisement as Khalique did.

For Ashfaque Saleem Mirza, Khalique’s greatest reward was the love and warmth he received from professionals and contemporary film-makers who would unreservedly praise his films, and his crisp prose.

Kishwar Naheed remembered him as a senior colleague in the Department of Films and Publications where he produced remarkable and well-researched films including a docudrama on Ghalib that still holds its field among the best films ever produced in the country. She credited him with introducing many women and men who made a name for themselves in film-making and showbiz in later years.

Khalique worked with Qurratul Ain Hyder, Aziz Ahmad, Jalaluddin Ahmad and Syed Amjad Ali in the early years of the department. Columnist Mushir Anwar fondly recounted memories of his few meetings with Khalique when he visited Islamabad. He referred to the letters Khalique wrote to his son Harris on personal and political issues. “You would not find many fathers discussing these subjects with their sons with such frankness and seriousness.”

Shiraz Haider quoted anecdotes from his famous memoirs Manzilein Gard Key Manand and said Khalique had close relations with famous writers and artists all over India while he lived in Lucknow. Haider traced the Kashmiri Brahmin origins of Khalique and said that he was a quintessential Lucknavi.

He also recalled the close friendship of Khalique with Safdar Mir which went back to their first jobs in Bombay during mid- 1940s.

His son, Harris Khalique, was then asked to read out some verses of Khalique Ibrahim Khalique.

Arshad Bhatti, the organiser of the programme, thanked the audience and said that this is the least we could do for the man of his calibre.