WHEN the courts need Islamic interpretation of certain difficult law points, they call Syed Afzal Haider, a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology and the Pakistan Law and Justice Commission, as amicus curie. For him speaking on the lighter side of life was not as easy as talking on legal and constitutional matters which he is well versed with more than many in the field. Though he has not been an ardent cinegoer, he does remember old movies of the pre-partition era that made him watch them more than once while he was studying, first, in Pakpattan and then in Lahore.
He remembers the talkies to which he used to go with great fondness as and when a mela was held in his native Pakpattan. He belongs to an era when silent films silently gave way to the talkies. Pakistani films came in Syed Afzal Haider’s life through the famous producer-director of yesteryear, Syed Anwar Kamal Pasha, who was the first cousin of his mother.
He was directing Do Ansoo and Syed Sahib had a chance to be on its sets to have a taste of the shooting. He recalls how fascinated he felt while there on the sets where the film’s production was in progress and where Sabiha Khanum, for whom this movie was her debut on the silver screen, appeared as a “little girl” who was taking her time in understanding scenes and her dialogues for the situation.
When it comes to music, Afzal Haider, who has also headed the Lahore High Court Bar Association, is a fan of K.L. Saigol whose “immortal voice” was always “a source of inspiration” for him. He had purchased a gramophone only to play records of Saigol’s songs which he had bought in plenty and which used to be his favourite pastime.
Akhtari Bai Faizabadi and Noor Jahan were also on his list of favourites. In fact, he listened to Noor Jahan in his Pakpattan haveli where she used to come to pay homage to Afzal Haider’s aunt who was the singer’s spiritual guru. Once her aunt asked Noor Jahan to sing, and she immediately obliged. Afzal Haider was present on the occasion, and remembers it quite vividly.
But the most he admires happens to be an almost unknown folk singer of the area, Inayat Bai Dheronwali. “I just cannot forget her Saraiki rendering of Yar Sipahira Aawat Mende Kol, Ik Lakh Desan Ik Wari Cha Bol”. It was for this song alone that Afzal Haider would often go to her place in the adjoining village!
His mother and aunt used to read Heer Waris Shah and Pundit Rattan Nath Sarshar’s Fasanai-i-Azad, and Afzal Haider used to share their taste from the very beginning. He liked the books so much that it later became a routine for the two ladies to recite portions from the books for him almost every day. This developed in him the fondness for music and culture, and, in turn, drove him to learn the art of playing sitar, bansri and been.
When he found that the local melas had a great cultural value, he felt that the dhol is the greatest inspiration which stirs one’s soul. He still feels great about the beating of dhol, and believes that “this dying art must be preserved”.
When he first started watching movies, Barsat and Mahal instantly became his favourite movies for he liked their songs very much. He is impressed by Shankar, Jaikishan, Naushad and Kham Chand Parkash. But K.L. Saigol still remains on top as a singer “who had the most melodious of voices”. But he has equal fondness for the folk varieties of dohray and tappe that have “made a place in my heart second to none”.
Afzal Haider has a long list of favourite writers, including Indians and Pakistanis as well as English and German. Aldus Huxley, Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Hafiz Shirazi, Ghalib, Iqbal, Waris Shah, Bulleh Shah and Baba Farid are the ones he admires the most, but more than anyone else, he enjoys the Punjabi mystic poets in that list. He always has by his bedside Diwan-i-Ghalib, Diwan-i-Hafiz and, of course, Heer.
WHEN the courts need Islamic interpretation of certain difficult law points, they call Syed Afzal Haider, a member of the Council of Islamic Ideology and the Pakistan Law and Justice Commission, as amicus curie. For him speaking on the lighter side of life was not as easy as talking on legal and constitutional matters which he is well versed with more than many in the field. Though he has not been an ardent cinegoer, he does remember old movies of the pre-partition era that made him watch them more than once while he was studying, first, in Pakpattan and then in Lahore.
