IT all began 30 years back when she was selected as a talk-show host. Since, it has been a long and arduous journey for Khushbakhat Shujat. Still, today as vice-president of the Karachi Arts Council, she is striving hard to work for the rights of fellow artistes.
Her interaction with artistes, courtesy her association with the electronic as well as the print media, has given her a rare insight into the problems of this struggling community. And this, she says, is now helping her be more understanding in running the affairs of the Arts Council. But today, I was there to talk to her about her love for music, movies and books. And though she is at home with all three, music is her self-confessed passion.
Music is what she can listen to all day long without being irked or tired at all. About her favourite genre she replies: “It all depends upon my mood, at times it even creates a mood.” She does, however, enjoy geet and ghazals most. Her all time favourite singers are Tina Sani, Abida Parveen, Jagjit Singh and Mehdi Hasan.
What she admires most about Abida Parveen is rendering her voice to the sufiana kalam of Shah Abdul Latif Bhatai and Baba Bulhe Shah. But Mehdi Hasan, ah! Now there’s a different class. In fact, it’s difficult for Khushbakhat to name a favourite ‘one’ from his list of songs. “He has rendered his voice to almost all Urdu poets, so it makes it further challenging for me to choose one or two of it.”
She also adores Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s verses sung by Tina Sani and Iqbal Bano. “They create an impulse within you to do something, specially when you hear Hum dekhein gey (by Iqbal Bano) and Bol ke lab azad hain tere (by Tina Sani),” she explains enthusiastically.
But that does not at all mean she has no liking for other genres. Unlike most of the people, she does not insist on the cliche, ‘music nowadays is not as appealing as it used to be some time back’. In fact, she concludes that, transformation is healthy and reasons that change is needed in every walk of life otherwise things become stagnant and pathetic. Therefore, her preferences are not curbed to a few classical or ghazal singers — though she does admires them more.
Among the new crop of singers she likes Jawad Ahmed, Abrar-Ul-Haq, Najam Sheraz and Fakhir, whereas her favourite groups are Fuzon and Strings.
While talking about the about movies she enjoys, there’s a slight problem — she doesn’t seem to remember the title of the movies. “If you ask me to narrate the story of the movie, I will do it without the slightest problem, but don’t ask its title as I am very bad at it,” she confesses laughing. The only titles she can remember are those that she saw long time back with her family in cinemas. And how is it that she’s able to remember the names of those movies? “The ones we used to watch earlier, were the ones that we gave our full attention to. However, nowadays there are only a few movies that we watch with full attention; most of the time we are busy with one thing or the other. So how can one possibly remember their titles?” Nevertheless, she knows that she enjoys art movies. And since, there aren’t any being made in Pakistan, India art cinema is what she is enjoying at the moment.
The actors whose work she enjoys the most are Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Tabu and Om Puri. Her overall favourite movies are, both Pakistani and Indian, Arman, Sat Lakh, Naila, Umraojan Ada, Pakeezah and Mughal-e-Azam. One of the recent Hollywood flicks she enjoyed is The Princess and Me. Surprisingly, she also relishes cartoons, which according to her grabs the attention of the viewers entirely.
Books are something that she’s very select about. There are two subjects that appeal her the most. First being spiritual or somewhat religious and the second, romance.
In the first category she’s all for Siratul Nabi. “I have read a lot on this but if I still get hold of a book on it, believe me, I won’t be able to quit it before I’ve read it all.” Besides books on the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) she has read works of well-known writers such as, Maulana Shibli Nomani, Maulana Modoodi, Wajida Tabasum, Jailani Bano, Ashfaq Ahmed and Bano Qudsia.
Among her most preferred books are Nehjul Balagha by (Hazrat Ali) and Raja Gidh by Bano Qudsia. What she admires about Raja Gidh is the ambiguity and complexity of the novel. Poetry is something that she refers to as her passion. Parveen Shakir not just for being her friend but for her poetry is what she admires most. “She used to share with me all her poems and that is why it is so special for me,” she adds with a sigh. Besides Parveen she is an ardent admirer of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ghalib, Ahmed Faraz and Habeeb Jalib and their verses are most precious part of her collection.
FAVOURITE BOOKS: Siratul Nabi by Shibli Noamani and Raja Gidh by Bano Qudsia.
IT all began 30 years back when she was selected as a talk-show host. Since, it has been a long and arduous journey for Khushbakhat Shujat. Still, today as vice-president of the Karachi Arts Council, she is striving hard to work for the rights of fellow artistes.
