|
|
|
A mother’s story
Zulfiqar Sheikh’s latest drama serial Maa was launched at a star studded gala in Karachi recently. A rich selection of the TV world’s who’s who were present to see the cast and the personalities involved in the making of the serial. From veterans of television like Uzma Gilani to the young stars of today like Aijazz Aslam, that Sunday evening was indeed a gathering of the high and mighty of tele-entertainment. Also present was the small-screen siren of yesteryear, Mahnoor Baloch, who is now a Canadian national.
The evening got off to a late start with Ashraf Khan serving as host. Maa, the trials and tribulations of motherhood, has been written by Shakeel Adnan Hashmi and directed by Zulfiqar Sheikh. His wife Tasmina produced it under the banner of Elysee Productions International while Waqar Ali composed the serial’s music. The drama is composed of a strong 16-man (and woman) cast. It has been shot on location in Karachi, Lahore and Scotland, first doing the rounds in Pakistan with the crew wrapping up work in the rolling hills of bonny old Scotland. The serial is spread over 20 episodes.
Speaking on the occasion was media mogul Tahir A. Khan, who had nothing but praise for Maa and couldn’t emphasize enough the quality of the serial. However, he devoted the better amount of his time on stage encouraging PTV, on whose PTV World the serial will be telecast, to revise it’s overall policies, specially suggesting that the state run channel should encourage the private sector. He was of the opinion that PTV World needed a good serial and Maa fit the bill. “This serial will definitely help improve its ratings,” Tahir claimed.
Thereafter it was Zulfiqar Sheikh’s turn to thank his mentors. Zulfiqar in particular pleaded to the advertisers who, he said, should be fair to the serial. But the emotional part of his speech was devoted to thanking his seniors, including Haseena Moin, Kazim Pasha and Zaheer Khan. The writer said that he had penned the serial along the lines of Quaid-i-Azam’s golden words, “Give me good mothers and I’ll give you a good nation.” Shakeel, who is also considered a good cameraman in television, wanted to highlight the social corruption of society with a mother’s struggle to survive.
And then it was time for the cast to wax eloquent about Maa. Aijazz Aslam climbed onto the soapbox and did the usual round of thanks. One is quite sure he must be nervous about the whole serial as his is a negative character. Nevertheless, he did confess to taking special horse-riding lessons, one of the requirements of his character. And in between praising everything that the drama stands for, he did take special time out to thank Kazim Pasha for giving him his break in television.
Asad, another main player in the serial, considers his character as a positive one. However, there was contradiction between the director and the actor as soon after, Zulfi declared Asad’s contribution as that of a negative role, and that too in a Scottish accent!
Others present included Javed Fazil, Hasan Kazi and Sajid Hasan who were all praise for the script. Hmmm. Good job Shakeel? We’ll find out soon enough. Uzma Gilani plays the title character. Zulfiqar was all praise for Javeria Jalil for whom it was her third project with the director. Zulfiqar Sheikh had nothing but admiration for Javeria’s memory who, it seems, not only remembered all of her lines, but also other actors’ lines as well!
Those missing at the event were Ismat Sufi, Talat Hussain and Tasmina who, according to Sheikh, was in England. On the whole, the evening went well, if one forgets the late start. But everything still hung together till the end. Maybe it was the post-midnight dinner that had everybody in their seats. The one ugly incident of the evening was the city’s electricity department’s incompetence that remained a constant problem, as power breakdown’s disrupted the evening’s proceedings no less than three times. Thank God for generators, or the audience would have been hearing hoarse actors shout out their thanks and having dinner by candlelight. Not a good thought if you’re alone!
|
|
|
|
