Like the well-known maxim, better late than never, it can also be never too early to start anything. But Ali Zafar’s humble beginnings can very well said to be somewhere between the two. He realized his talents early on and started entertaining his peers in college. And the accolades that he received, proved to him that he could be on to something here. “I started singing when I was 16. I used to sing in college and at various other places,” says the Channo guy.
It wasn’t long though that Ali’s hard-work and love for a good song put him on the highway to success. Although he started singing early, it was Channo that brought him national fame. “Channo is my favourite too. I had to put a lot of hard work in it and thank God I received a recognition for it,” says Ali. Other than Channo other songs from the album too were a big hit.
Apart from his echoic voice, Zafar’s pleasant personality has landed him a lot of work in commercials as well. But the thing that he’s really eager to talk about is his first staring role in a movie. “I will be appearing in Shoaib Mansoor’s new film, which is completely different from what we see in the subcontinent. It is about issues which the Muslims have been force to face after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre. In the movie, we are working on issues like what is our identity and how we are looked by the other side.”
His co-star in the film, Khuda Ke Liye, is the veteran Indian movie great, Naseeruddin Shah. Elaborating more on the movie, Ali says, “Besides the plot a lot of fresh techniques have also been used in the film making. Some foreign technicians have also been invited to give the movie a new, advanced touch.”
But that’s enough of the movie that he’ll be in, what about the movie he watches? “I don’t like watching movies that are totally based on unrealistic stories, that are way away from the truth. I mostly like to watch reality bound films,” says the serious Zafar. When asked to name his favourite movies he names Ray, Scent of a Woman and the Indian, Teen Deewarian as his favourite ones.
“Teen Deewarain has been very beautifully presented and the performance by Naseeruddin Shah and Juhi Chawla is remarkable,” admires Ali. However, as far as actors are concerned he names Al Pacino and Dilip Kumar as the ones he looks up to the most.
But what about other Indian movies? “Nowadays, Bollywood seems to have nothing but Shahrukh Khan with some selected actresses in the same touchy love stories, which again I would say are away from reality.” So Teen Dewarain it is.
What about this new trend of Pakistani artistes contributing to the Bollywood? “Well to me, our first priority should be our own country. I mean any artiste can work anywhere, but their talent should firstly be utilized for their own land,” opines Ali saying that the Indians want our artistes because what they can come up with, the Indians can’t.
Steering towards music Ali Zafar believes that classic is the base of every kind of music. “Classic is a key part in music. In fact I would say this is the true and basic form of music. Classic is like the bed of the ocean,” explains Ali adding that he himself mostly listens to classics of Ghulam Ali and Mehndi Hassan.
Although it is difficult for him to name one single favourite number of his, as he claims to like all forms of classics, on being insisted he says, “Mehndi sahib’s Yeh Dhuan Kahan Se Uthta Hai is something I always enjoy listening to.” And this coming from a guy who has sung Channo, one of the liveliest numbers of our time. But to Ali, even Channo has got its root in the classics!
Turning to Indian music, Ali is inspired by Lata and Kishore. And yes, once it was the talk of the town that Ali tried to copy Kishore Kumar. Is that really so? “Well I don’t think there is hardly a singer who is not inspired by Kishore. And as far as my voice resembling his is concerned, it’s something natural,” clarifies Ali. On the other hand, in western music Ali Zafar says he is fond of listening to Queen and U2.
Fuzon, Strings, Jal, Noori, Atif, Jawad Ahmed, Mekal Hassan and Abrar are the names Ali enjoys listening to. “Mekal’s music is pure and rich and the classic he sings is of my type. However, Abrar has got a great knack of presenting his music. You see everyone likes him and especially the young generation,” says Ali.
Now to something Ali is not very much into; book reading. Although it is difficult for him to spare time for book from his busy schedule, one cannot say that Ali is not into literature at all. “I like reading Manto’s short stories. Plus I sometimes read Krishan Chandar’s works as well,” says Ali. In addition he also remembers ‘dying’ for Alif Laila stories in his childhood.
Well this is not all. Ali has a special taste of reading Ghalib’s work also. Although Ali proudly says he is not in a position to comment on Ghalib’s poetry, on being requested he finally says, “Ghalib is the best and that’s the only thing I can say about him.”
As part of his passion, classical music, Ali listens to Ghalib’s ghazals in the form of Jagjit Singh’s soothing compositions. “Jagjit has done a wonderful job of giving Ghalib’s poetry a new touch and making the new generation love the ghazals in the form of music,” maintains Ali, who thinks that Jagjit has rendered the best task of his life.
Like the well-known maxim, better late than never, it can also be never too early to start anything. But Ali Zafar’s humble beginnings can very well said to be somewhere between the two. He realized his talents early on and started entertaining his peers in college. And the accolades that he received, proved to him that he could be on to something here. “I started singing when I was 16. I used to sing in college and at various other places,” says the Channo guy.
