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The strongman of showbiz
Qavi Khan is excited about the success of the stage play Nawab Sahib Qibla
that was Pakistan’s entry to the international drama festival in December in New Delhi. His was the title role in the play the late Rafi Peer wrote way back in 1939, coincidentally it was in this very city that the play was staged a couple of months ago.
Usmaan Peerzada, who directed the drama, also played a key role in Nawab Sahib Qibla, which turned out to be quite a success at the drama festival called Theatre Utsav. Samina Peerzada, with whom the nawab sahib flirts incessantly, says that it was difficult to decide who won greater appreciation — Qavi Khan or the play itself.
For his part, Qavi is highly impressed with the quality of the audience at the festival. “Way back in the seventies when we used to do serious plays in Lahore, we distributed pamphlets among the audience that outlined the etiquettes of watching plays and I was very impressed to see that the audience in Delhi followed those principles in letter and spirit,” he says.
Nawab Sahib Qibla reflects the degeneration in the Nawabi culture, which began in the 19th century and was at its worst in the first half of the 20th century before it died its natural death.
Coincidentally, Qavi Khan is playing the character of a similar nawab in a TV serial that is being directed by Yasir Nawaz Baloch about whom the veteran actor has nothing but words of praise. The serial — Dil, Diya aur Dehleez — is based on a novel by Riffat Siraj, who has also done the script for the serial. Qavi appears in seven episodes of the serial. “The two nawabs that I have essayed are somewhat different. In Rafi Peer’s play he has his saving grace, but in the Hum TV serial the nawab is out and out a wicked character,” says the actor who has done both.
“I have always admired Usmaan Peerzada and it was a pleasure working for him. He has been invited to stage Nawab Sahib Qibla in other cities of India, too. I hope to be there with the play. What is no less heartening is that Usmaan is working on a one-actor play and he has told me that he has selected me to portray the character,” says Qavi, sporting an ear-to-ear grin.
It’s a pleasure talking to Qavi Khan for he has the grace and etiquette, not to speak of the old worldly charm. He speaks chaste Urdu and is courteous to everyone — irrespective of age and social status.
Qavi Khan, who was born in Badayun in India in a family of Yusufzai Pathans, settled down with his parents after Partition in Peshawar, where he had his early education and his first taste of showbiz. In 1952, at the age of ten, he started going to Radio Pakistan’s Peshawar station and was among a number of children who formed a live audience. It didn’t take him long to make his debut when he took part in the programme and went home with Rs5 in cash, quite a princely sum in the mid-fifties. As he grew up and his experience increased, his remuneration doubled.
Radio was the only medium in those days. One had to prove one’s worth before being cleared by a high-powered selection board. He remembers distinctly that when his first radio play was to be on air, he and his co-actor garlanded the radio set and lighted incense sticks just before the play went on air. Qavi portrayed the character of an old man in the play that was adapted from George Eliot’s novel, Silas Mariner.
He recalls with nostalgia, “I remember the following morning when I was walking through the streets of Peshawar and all those who knew me greeted me with awe and
‘Things were not that bad in the cinema of the fifties and the sixties, but then came the deterioration. The atmosphere in the Lahore film studios is not congenial to creativity. Uneducated and unsophisticated people are calling the shots there,’ says Qavi Kha
nadmiration. Like first love, first adulation is an unforgettable experience. All those who cut their teeth on the radio have benefited all through their professional lives. In our days voice culture was very much a part of the training for an actor who had to express the whole gamut of expressions through his vocal chords. Emphasis was also laid on correct pronunciation and the proper intonation pattern.”
Theatre, which he did at the same time as he did plays on the radio, offered a different kind of a challenge. Qavi opines that while in movies and in TV plays an actor enjoys the luxury of retakes, on the stage every performance is a final performance, there is no room for improvement until the next evening when he plays his part once again.Does an audience as attentive and appreciative as the one in Delhi induce him to perform better? “Yes, it does. This is true of every performing art. For instance, a singer puts his heart and soul in his performance if the audience is receptive and applauds when applause is due,” says the actor.
A recipient of the Pride of Performance, Qavi Khan has had the honour of playing the romantic lead in the very first play to be telecast by PTV. Nazrana, as it was titled, was written by Najma Farooqi and directed by the late Fazal Kamal. Strangely enough, he didn’t do many romantic roles after that. “Yes, that’s an irony, isn’t it. I was given some meaty roles but they were of people who were past their prime,” he says. His biggest regret in life is that despite acting in 250 films, producing 12 movies and directing one, he remained a misfit in the world of Pakistani cinema.
“Things were not that bad in the cinema of the fifties and the sixties, but then came the deterioration. The atmosphere in the Lahore film studios is not congenial to creativity. Uneducated and unsophisticated people are calling the shots there,” laments Qavi Khan, and he is not the only one to feel that way.
Does he hold the government responsible for ignoring the film industry. Couldn’t they have made a film training institute like the one in Pune or on the lines of the PTV training institute? “Well, the government is to be blamed for many things. The PTV training institute that you are referring to fell prey to the party in power’s whims and fancies. Every time the government changed, they brought their favourites to head PTV and its training institutes,” says the seasoned actor.
After having done radio, TV, theatre and cinema, which medium does Qavi find most challenging? “I won’t mention cinema because I didn’t get the opportunity to put in my best in that medium, but as for the other three, they are all challenging and rewarding in their own way. I don’t think I have done badly in any one of these,” he says.
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