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Reincarnation of Khuda ki basti
Shaukat Siddiqui’s Adamjee Adabi prizewinner of 1964, Khuda ki basti (KKB) is perhaps the only novel-based TV serial in the history of Pakistan which not only drew a large audience, but remains a nostalgic reminder of yesteryear’s quality television productions to this day. The serial is expected to go on air again on Prime TV after Aik naey morr par, which is being re-telecast in memory of Mohsin Ali, ends.
Initially, KKB was produced in November 1969 jointly by producers Ishrat Ansari and Rasheed Umar Thanvi at Karachi TV’s small but historical studio ‘A’ which still stands at the station. The serial also had an advisory committee comprising Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Jamiluddin Aali besides Shaukat Siddiqui himself.
The 1969 black and white serial had the cream of top PTV artists of Karachi including Zahin Tahira, Zafar Masud, S.M. Saleem, Zahoor Ahmed, Mohammad Yousuf, Qazi Wajid, Zafar Siddiqui, Tauqir Fatima, Shahjee and Arsh-e-Munir. It was a 25-minute weekly serial consisting of 26 episodes. Every week, the day KKB was telecast, the roads and streets of Karachi remained deserted and absolutely quiet. The invitation cards to wedding parties being held on the day and time of the serial’s telecast always carried a small message saying “TV set ka bhi intizam hai!”
During Khuda ki basti’s telecast, tragically the leading girl Tauqir Fatima suddenly expired due to an ulcer problem. She was replaced by Mussarat Sahafi.
At the unofficial awards ceremony held in April 1970 in the Rio cinema hall, the serial bagged 15 awards with Qazi Wajid receiving the best actor award for the character of Raja, and Zahin Tahira as the leading girl’s mother. The best supporting actor award went to Raju Jamil for his memorable character of Geoffrey who called his officer ‘Solomon’ instead of Salman. Both Ishrat Ansari and Rasheed Umar Thanvi received the best producers award…a black and white 26’’ TV set.
In 1974, when Z. A. Bhutto was in power, Yusuf Buch, the advisor to the prime minister, ordered the re-telecast of Khuda ki basti as it was Bhutto’s favourite serial and had an awami message. But PTV had problems as the VTRs
(Video tape recordings) of KKB, which were on spool then, had long been erased due to their scarcity and re-recording of other programmes. Z. A. Bhutto insisted that the serial must be re-telecast even if fresh recordings were required, hence the entire cast gathered at producer Bakhtiar Ahmed’s room at Karachi TV Centre. Except for Zafar Masud who had died in a car accident in Egypt a year earlier, Iqbal Tareen who had migrated to the US and Andaleeb who had shifted to Bangladesh in 1971. Zafar’s role as Nausha was performed by Behroze Subzwari (a young lad then) and Andaleeb’s by Zooni Butt, the then famous TV model and Iqbal’s by Saqib Shaikh as Salman. The rest of the cast remained the same with Munawwar Sultana (now Mrs. Ghulam Mohiuddin) playing the leading girl Sultana.
The 1974 re-recorded version of Khuda ki basti featured 50-minute episodes, which lasted 13 weeks and created the same impact which the 1969 version did. Bakhtiar Ahmed did a fine job and this time the entire serial has been well maintained by PTV. There was a repeat telecast in 1990, which termed the adaptation of Shaukat Siddiqui’s novel as the “Mother of all serials” at PTV.
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