LAHORE: The trendsetting comedian from Punjab, Amanullah, who ruled commercial theatre for almost three decades, passed away here on Friday after a protracted illness. He was 70.

Amanullah had been critically ill for a few months during which he was being admitted to various hospitals on and off. Two weeks ago, he had been admitted to a private hospital where he passed away on Friday after suffering from multiple health complications such as pneumonia, kidney and respiratory issues.

Amanullah Khan, a stand-up comedian and rightly called the king of commercial theatre, was born in Ramchakdas village near Gujranwala in 1950. Though his family was settled in Sant Nagar in Lahore, but he was born in his maternal hometown.

This versatile and spontaneous comedian had a very humble beginning from selling sweets near Data Darbar. His antics of hawking were so amusing that people often used to gather around him just to listen to him. He called himself a huge fan of popular radio broadcaster Nizam Deen and used to follow him. That was a time when the likes of Jamil Bismil, Khalid Abbas Dar, Ali Ejaz and Albela were all the rage in commercial theatre.

While selling sweets, Amanullah kept looking for an opportunity to display his talent on stage. It was in 1977 that he met stage producer Effendi, who gave the actor his maiden play, Sixer, at Alhamra, which was called the Pakistan Arts Council back then. Sixer turned out to be a smash hit and the audience gave a standing ovation to the newcomer. Since people didn’t know his name, they used to call him kaala. It was the first and firm step towards Amanullah’s skyrocketing theatre career.

Another commercial play, Ghar Ghar Bashira, added to his stardom on stage. Actors such as Nasir Butt, Jawad Waseem, Irfan Hashmi, Khalid Abbas Dar, Albela were the jewels of commercial theatre at that time. Later, in the early ‘80s, Sohail Ahmed entered the field, followed by Babbu Baral. This was the same time when Umar Sharif also made his presence felt on Lahore’s theatre scene. Despite these luminaries ruling the stage, Amanullah had an edge with his innovative and peculiar style.

He had a world record of 860-day night theatre plays, including Shartia Mithay, Bara Maza Aye Ga and Begum Dish Antenna. Among his other immensely popular stage plays were Rola Daj Da, Bashira in Trouble, Sab Se Bara Ruppaiya, Khatra 440, Saadi Vi Suno, Disco Deewanay and Aik Biwi Ka Sawal. Amanullah also acted in a few films, and in his last days was part of a comedy show on a private TV channel.

So much was the extent of his popularity that when Indian singer Daler Mehndi visited Pakistan in 1996, he expressed his desire to meet Amanullah, Babbu Baral and Sohail Ahmed. The three comedy stars, later, went to India also on the invitation of Mehndi.

Amanullah had married thrice; two of his wives were relatives and the third was actress Lubna Shamsi.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2020