|
|
The folk singer at heart
I’ve always wanted to be a musician. Music was, is and will always be my first love. Acting is a bi-product of the love affair that I have with music,” says Khalid Anam.
Long before the pop group fad started in Pakistan, Khalid and his friends formed a band. They sang at private gatherings for free. “This is how I gave vent to the music that was inside me.” Being pretty good musicians, the group made a name for themselves. They sang mostly folk and old songs, though the list consisted of a few popular numbers as well.
Ghazanfar Ali, the then chief of Combine Productions, heard Khalid sing Peera ho and was so taken by it, that he immediately had it recorded. The song was a hit and says Khalid, a forerunner to the so-called ‘Sufi music’, which is the hallmark of a lot of pop bands nowadays.
“I’ve always felt that Pakistani folk music is so rich in flavour that we need not contaminate it with western touches. My study of folk music, if I may say so, is quite deep. I know over 350 folk songs by heart.”
Khalid Anam says that the music today lacks the depth which our folk music has. “If you compare the music of yesteryear with today’s, you will notice a big difference — farq saaf zahir hai.
In the absence of proper acting or singing institutes, radio and television stations played a very positive role in grooming new talent. Poets wrote songs, music directors composed them and it was the music directors who would choose the singer talented enough to sing their tunes or compositions.
“The picture is quite different today, Mr. X writes the song, his sequencer does the composing, and with all the modern gadgetry available in the studio, he sings the song, makes the video and bingo! You’re a hit (or a miss).”
Presently, Khalid is working on an album with songs he has written over the years.
Javed Allahditta’s younger brother brought Khalid to stage as a singer, just as Yasmin Ismail introduced him to theatre. He came to television at a time when private productions had not yet started. In fact, the first privately produced entertainment programme ever to be telecast was a ten-minute children’s puppet show called Di Di show done by Khalid. And although he has acted in several plays for television, theatre remains his first love.
“Television has never been a challenge for me. Theatre on the other hand is something that I love doing and it still gives me a thrill.”
After seeing how every chai waala and haleem waala has taken the line, Khalid has now decided to try his hand at directing. At present, he is directing and co-producing a seven-episode comedy play, mostly shot on location in Murree, with Behroz and Laila Zuberi in the lead.
One of Khalid’s most popular television series was Sesame Street, dubbed in Urdu.
“Ghazanfar Ali came up with the idea and asked me to prepare the pilot by dubbing the tape, after which we were to send it to the C.T.W (Children’s Television Workshop) in Columbia.”
He later came to know that quite a few big names of our puppet industry had made similar tapes. Luckily, Khalid’s pilot was approved, and the original production team from C.T.W. flew to Karachi to formally audition and to approve the voices to be used for their stock characters.
“I was lucky to have had the opportunity of working with people like Shoaib Hashmi. He expects hard work from people around him. He gave me the will to translate and record over eight songs a day, and take out the same number of voices for the characters.”
He feels that the private production companies are to be blamed, to quite an extent, for the diminishing standard of quality. For the simple reason that the people who are responsible for producing the serials are not qualified enough. The quality of work therefore lacks detail and finesse, even though the best equipment possible is made available to them.
“The solution to the problem is that institutions like Pakistan Television and Radio Pakistan should start playing an active role in grooming the new talent. The producers sitting and doing nothing for months should be given the task of training the actors. Our problem is that we are so intimidated by the Indian channels that we not only digest all the crap that is being aired, our private channels are also demanding that the same should be produced here. There was a time when India used to follow and copy PTV. Now the tables have turned. We, in our earnestness, are trying to be as crappy as the Indians. We have forgotten our masterpieces like Tanhaiyaan, Unkahi as if they were mere dreams.”
“‘Kawwa chala hunhse ki chaal, apni chaal bhi bhoul gaya’.”
|
|
