KARACHI: A big number of friends, colleagues, relatives and admirers of actor Qazi Wajid, who passed away on Feb 11, turned up on Friday at the Arts Council’s Manzar Akbar Hall at a condolence reference held to commemorate his memory.

Writer Haseena Moin said it was difficult to say whether Qazi was a better actor or human being because nowadays cultured individuals such as him were hard to find. The way he treated his colleagues was exemplary. He would particularly encourage the newcomers [to the field of showbiz].

Ms Moin said Qazi had a remarkable sense of humour. On the other hand, he would keep his own grief and sorrow to his heart. For 50 years he worked in show business but did not own a bungalow or an expensive car. He was so dedicated to his work that once while shooting for TV serial Ankahi (that she wrote) he had to undergo eye surgery. The doctors had advised him to stay away from light for 10 days. The serial had reached its climax and some important scenes with Qazi needed to be shot. The production team requested him to do the scenes assuring him he would not face the lights. Qazi learned his lines by listening to his co-workers read them to him and did the scenes wearing dark glasses.

Showbiz fraternity pays homage to the late actor

Poetic side

Actor Talat Husain said Qazi was steeped in tradition and culture. It was a delight to listen to him every time he spoke. He was also a good poet. He [Husain] used to urge him to publish his poems but he wouldn’t take it seriously. Husain completed his short speech by saying he loved the late actor as a friend and colleague.

Actor Munawwar Saeed said Qazi’s real name was Wajid Ansari. He used to do a show on radio called Qazi Ka Qaeda, which became so popular that people started calling him Qazi Wajid.

Mr Saeed gave a couple of examples of Qazi’s wit and sense of humour. He said the late actor used to smoke a lot. Once Saeed told him that he should cut down on the number of cigarettes because he (Saeed) smoked only four cigarettes a day — one each after breakfast, after lunch, after evening tea and after dinner. Listening to this brought a smile to Qazi’s face and he retorted that Saeed did not smoke but took [cigarettes as] medicine.

Actor Ayub Khoso said he worked alongside the late actor in a TV serial which was shot near Hyderabad. There he discovered that he was an extremely affectionate and contented soul.

Actor Khaled Anam said working with Qazi was such a nice experience that even if there was an age difference between him and his co-actors, it would diminish in no time. To honour his memory, he quoted a line, “A man never dies until he is forgotten”.

Actor Shahzad Raza recalled the time when Qazi along with a team of artists went to Saudi Arabia where he performed Umrah. He, as did Ayaz Khan who spoke later, narrated incidents which suggested Qazi had known that his time to leave the world had come.

TV producer Ishrat Ansari spoke about the era when Qazi acted in the iconic play Khuda Ki Basti and made his presence felt as an actor.

Another producer Bakhtiar Ahmed mentioned, as did some others, the play Taleem-i-Balighan written by Khwaja Moinuddin with whom Qazi had worked a lot.

Salman Alvi, Ahmed Shah, Ali Akbar, Aziz Warsi, Tanveer Siddiqui, Amin Memon, Saadat Jaffery, Adil Wadia, Behroz Sabzwari, Zaheer Khan and Ghulam Mohiuddin also spoke.

Iqbal Latif conducted the programme.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2018