April 21, 2002

The past week has been a busy one with as lot of launches taking place one after the other. The first one, Thori khushi thora ghum, is all set for a splash on the screen with a known cast, and a production team that has made a name for itself with serials like Des Pardes and Ansoo.

TKTG is Zulfiqar Sheikh’s first serial as a director. Produced by wife Tasmeena, Zulfiqar has applied some of the same tactics he applied in Castle: eik Umeed. Besides shooting half the serial abroad, the story focuses on the problems of human trafficking.

A grand launch was held, at a local hotel, to formally announce the airing of the drama. While the promo was impressive, it was the different aspects of the launch that were quite amusing. Talat Hussain in his address stated that his role in the serial was ‘different.’ In the promo, his role was that of an underworld don and he reminded many people of his Aali Jah days. Commented one guest: “What’s different about that? We saw the same Talat in Kashkol as the gangster called ‘Aali Jah’ and then again as the devil in Sarmaya.” One also couldn’t help noticing the similarities between the title, Thori khushi thora ghum and the recent Amitabh Bachchan starrer Kabhi khushi kabhi ghum. Another high point of the drama was the soundtrack, which was sung by Sajjad Ali. Hiring musicians to sing the title tracks of high budgeted dramas is fast becoming a trend, ever since we heard Ali Azmat in Ansoo. The cast includes Aijazz Aslam, Talat Hussain, Humanyun Saeed, Asad, Nabeel, Arjumand Rahim and Nighat Choudhary to name a few. The writer is Abdul Qadir Junejo.

 

‘Patjhar ki chaoon’ is another upcoming drama that held its launch recently. Directed by Mahnoor Baluch, the drama has been penned by veteran writer, Mohammed Ahmed
 

Patjhar ki chaoon is another upcoming drama that held its (elaborate) launch soon after at another hotel. Directed by Mahnoor Baluch, the drama has been penned by veteran writer, Mohammed Ahmed. The proceedings of the entire show was a bit different from the usual launchings. A stage was set up and the guests were called and seated on the sofas on stage. After the Q&A session, glimpses of the errors from the recording were shown. So amusing were the tracks that someone suggested that instead of the drama, “they should simply show these boo boos, which would make the serial a hit.”

The script looked quite interesting, though one couldn’t help notice that certain shots of the drama were inspired from a Hollywood flick, Mrs Winterborne. When asked if the drama was taken from a novel, Mahnoor replied in the positive, but couldn’t remember the name of the actual novel. The stars present included Javed Sheikh, Aijazz Aslam (who had come straight from a shooting), Jehan Ara Hai and Badar Khalil who plays the role of a zalim aurat.

Khadija, the lady who sang the title track, is from Islamabad and has done a fantastic job with her song. So radiant was her voice that by the end of the evening everybody was humming it. But the thing that surprised everybody was when Khadija said that she was actually a classical singer and had her training from an Indian maestro.

The third launch was of serial Muqaam, produced by Haroon Khan and directed by Owais Khan. The cast includes Uzma Gillani, Ayesha Sana, Ayesha Khan, Shamil Khan, Farhan Ali Agha and others. It is the story of an obsessive mother who has a hold on her only son and destroys the lives of women who come into his life.

Written by Anwar Sajjad, the story focuses on human relationships. Though the promo was interesting one wished that people had switched off their mobile phones and that little children were left at home.

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