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The angry young man
PTV has produced many great artists in its 39-year history. But very few performers can be labelled as being in a league of their own. Tauqeer Nasir is one such actor. Not only has he proven that he is a competent performer, he has gone against the grain when the need arose. Twenty years back, when TV artists restricted themselves to their respective TV centres, Nasir broke this taboo by working in a Karachi serial. In 1996, he led the struggle by artists against PTV’s decision to lower their wages. He was known as the angry young man, not because of his temperament, but because of the roles he often portrayed in his plays.
Interestingly, his acting talents have not gone unnoticed by those in officialdom, receiving the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz some years ago. He won the Best Actor award at PTV Lahore’s regional awards ceremony recently. It was the first award the PTV authorities had given him in his 27-year career.
“When the PTV authorities informed me that I had been selected for the best actor award for a Punjabi serial, I was not very happy because of the fact that I had been ignored so many times in the past. Four years ago, I worked in a drama serial, Rahein, and my character, Jhoora Bhatti, was very popular. At the time, I was ignored by the jury for some unknown reasons. I decided then, not to accept any award from PTV. When I was contacted for the regional awards, I refused to attend the ceremony and told them that they could give the award to someone else. I wasn’t interested. Later, Muneeza Hashmi and GM, Tariq Saeed approached me and due to their insistence, I went to the ceremony half-heartedly,” he said, talking about the drama behind the award.
“In my opinion, PTV awards have failed as far as encouraging artists is concerned. In fact, they discourage genuine artists who sincerely work not for the sake of money, but to satisfy their creative urges. The PTV people say this is a family channel. It’s true. Every year they distribute awards among their own family members. For me, winning a PTV award has no meaning. My actual awards are the viewers. They are the real source of inspiration, they are my real strength,” he says in a tone that does little to disguise his contempt.
In our culture, certain notions prevail, and performers are usually looked down upon. What does Tauqeer Nasir have to say about this?
“I think this characteristic of our society is because of a lack of education and tolerance. Look at other countries. Artists are considered the creme de la crème of society. Recently, Arnold Schwarzenegger won the gubernatorial election in California, US. In India, we see artists sitting in parliament and helping run national affairs. But here, no artist can enjoy the same status because the authorities have not giving them their due status. Giving the Pride of Performance or Tamgha-i-Imtiaz is not enough. Our government should do more than this. I think that artists and the intelligentsia are the real models of any society. They educate the masses more than anyone else, with their work. They have more interaction with the people than politicians do and that is why they are more popular.”
Giving the example of the US where one can’t compare the popularity of Michael Jackson with Bill Clinton or George Bush, Tauqeer Nasir said, “In India, Vajpayee can’t even dream of enjoying the popularity Amitabh Bachchan or Shahrukh Khan do. In all these countries, artists have achieved this status because of patronage of their respective governments. The situation is not very encouraging here. Have you ever seen any known artists at any high-level government functions or receptions? This is only one example. I can quote hundreds of others where the authorities have been neglecting artists. That is why our society has not yet been able to give the artist’s community the proper position it deserves in a developed society.”
Very few people are aware of the fact that Tauqeer has worked in Lollywood feature films and has even tasted a bit of success. His silver screen debut was in the action thriller Qiyamat, which scored big in 1989. Yet his successive flicks flopped and eventually, he had to return to TV. What is the reason he couldn’t replicate the success of his first film?
“When, after the success of my serial Darya, film producers approached me, I was not interested in doing movies. I signed Qiyamat on an experimental basis. It was a great success and I was flooded with many offers. It is true that my other movies flopped, but it wasn’t because of my acting skills, it was because of the gandassa culture, which still exists in the film industry. When I say something about our films, the Lollywood people take it personally. But the fact is, our film industry cannot really be called an industry. There is no professionalism here. Movies are being churned out, but look at the cinema halls. They are empty.”
A hot issue nowadays is the Lollywood crowd alleging that so far, all the movies made by TV directors have failed at the box office. Does he agree?
“I don’t agree that TV directors can’t make good, commercial movies. I agree that Asif Ali Pota, Fahim Burney and Rauf Khalid’s movies failed at the box office, but they don’t represent the TV industry. Neither do they represent the film industry. People like Shoaib Mansoor, Yawar Hayat, Haider Imam Rizvi, Ayub Khawar, Tariq Jameel and Kazim Pasha represent the TV industry. If they fail on the silver screen, then yes, one can say that TV directors can’t produce good films. But I also give credit to these three directors for their experiments on the silver screen. I am sure next time they will succeed in their attempts, because they have learned their lesson. But I ask other film directors, why do dozens of their movies keep flopping, one after the other? Why do they keep repeating their mistakes? Do they have any answers?” The actor asks rhetorically in a fiery tone.
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