Inducing a well-known personality to talk candidly, then listening carefully and reporting it honestly but in an interesting way is the essence of what a successful interview is all about.

But it is easier said than done. Interviewing a personality in a way that brings out something new -- especially the real personality behind the public persona -- is truly an art. And it is not everybody’s cup of tea.

Anybody interested in knowing how writers and poets work and what inspires them usually likes to read their interviews. In Urdu, too, we have a long history of interviewing and hundreds of journalists and reporters must have interviewed countless writers. But among the few interviewers of Urdu that stand head and shoulder above the rest is Tahir Masood.

It goes without any exaggeration that back in early 1980s when Tahir Masood began interviewing literary figures and publishing their candid and meaningful talks in Jasarat, an Urdu daily published from Karachi, he made huge ripples that kept on hitting the shores for quite long. And at that time Tahir Masood, whom today we know as Prof Dr Tahir Masood, was a young reporter in his twenties.

When these interviews first appeared in 1985 in book form, titled Ye soorat gar kuchh khwabon ke, they again triggered chain reactions and Tahir Masood almost overnight became a well-known literary figure himself. The book ran into several editions and it was published across the border in India, too. Many pieces of insidious information that Tahir Masood was able to extract from the interviewees, almost all of whom were luminaries, is still quoted in literary works and even in research papers.

The reason for his being shot to fame was not that many of the interviews he took kicked up controversies, clarifications, rejoinders and counterclaims that are now part of our literary history. It was indeed a reason. But another and the real reason behind his unusual and unexpected success was his ability to ask right questions and induce interesting answers that were introspective as well as insightful. This could not have been possible without a real and exhaustive homework and for a young reporter it must have been very demanding.

This success and popularity was as much unexpected for Tahir Masood himself as for some of his colleagues. In fact, in the preface to the latest and fifth edition of the book Tahir Masood seems imbued with a pensive sadness over the record-breaking success of his first book that he was so desirous to see in print. The reason is, as put by him, he had begun these interviews not as run-of-the-mill talks but meaningful and thought-provoking discussions on academic and intellectual issues. But today he in a way sounds regretful that the success of his first book, containing these interviews, has eclipsed his other literary works published elsewhere, which included pen-sketches, short stories, columns and research works.

He is quite justified in his melancholy feelings as his other literary works are of no lesser significance. The first volume has recently been published in an updated and expanded version by Huma Publishing House, Karachi.

The brilliant interviews that should not be missed by anyone interested in literature, literary figures and literary feuds continued after the publication of the first volume and not only the later editions of the book had some new interviews but the second volume too was quite ready. For some reasons, its publication was delayed but now the second volume of Ye soorat gar kuchh khwabon ke’ has just been published by Karachi’s Fazlee Sons.

Just as frank and revealing as the first volume, this one includes interviews of well-known personalities from different spheres of life. These personalities are from fields as diverse as religion, social work, education, journalism, literature, fine arts, sports and advertising. Some of the towering personalities interviewed include Maulana Abul A’ala Moudoodi, Abdus Sattar Edhi, Dr Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Mir Khalilur Rahman, Altaf Hasan Qureshi, Mohib Arifi, Peerzada Qasim, Aslam Farrukhi, Kamal Ahmed Rizvi and many more.

The book offers food for thought on several issues. Like the first volume, it not only discusses the art and life of famous writers but also brings under discussion the literary and intellectually conflicting views. Another aspect common to both the volumes is literary genres, literary movements and social trends prevalent at the time the interviews were recorded. In a way, the books also record the literary trends and intellectual stances of the yesteryears. Biographical sketches and other relevant information appended in the footnotes is helpful.

With the passage of time the interviews taken by Tahir Masood have become a landmark work and anyone wanting to know the secrets of conducting remarkable interviews must read these two volumes.

drraufparekh@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2019