It has been 30 years since the exceptional film director Nazrul Islam, who gave us blockbusters such as Ehsaas (1972), Aaina (1977), Amber and Zindagi (1978), Bandish, Nahin Abhi Nahin (1980), Love Story (1983) and Kalay Chor (1991) passed away.

The man who helped shape Pakistan’s film industry so that it could withstand the onslaught of Bollywood despite its meagre resources was just 53 when he breathed his last.

A master craftsman, Nazrul Islam aka Dada mesmerised the audience with magnificent visuals within a span of 20 years. With his trusted creative team by his side, the quality of his work would multiply manifold — the captivating music score by Robin Ghosh, the support of a big banner like Kashif Ltd., powerful writer Bashir Niaz and the top romantic duo of Nadeem-Shabnam as the lead pair. Every piece of Dada’s work always carried his signature style.

Born in Calcutta in August 1939, Nazrul Islam moved with his family to East Pakistan post-Partition. After learning the tricks of the trade as a film editor in Dhaka, he became a full-fledged film director during the mid-60s. With a firm grasp on production work, Nazrul Islam’s frames always carried something different each time round. Camera movement, discreet editing and the use of nature were his forte.

This could be the reason why many lovebirds still hum ‘Waada karo saajna’ on motorbike, recall the uber-love feeling that runs through ‘Thehra hai samaa’, or remember the melodramatic ‘Humein kho kar bohat pachhtao gey’ while breaking up with one’s beloved.

The phrase poetry in motion perfectly describes the cinematic masterpieces of acclaimed film director Nazrul Islam, who passed away 30 years ago

Who can forget ‘Do pyasay dil’ and ‘Mujhay dil se na bhulana’, where the mesmerising seashore matched the captivating music and fantastic poetry.

When Nazrul Islam was still making his name as a top-notch film director, Bollywood films got banned from screening in Pakistan, thanks to the 1965 Indo-Pak war. Pakistan cinema was in dire need of ‘quick’ films to survive and many filmmakers followed the pattern of producer Shabab Kairanvi.

Kairanvi Sr made movies in bulk in the shortest time available, which saw quantity taking over from quality. In the East, producers still followed the legendary Satyajit Ray school of filmmaking, where creativity was mixed with cinematic craft to bring ideas to life.

After the secession of East Pakistan, Nazrul Islam opted for Pakistan and, with professionals from East Pakistan, formed a team of like-minded individuals who seldom compromised on quality. The team gave us the classics Ehsaas (1972), Sharafat (1974), Aaina (1977), Bandish and Nahin Abhi Nahin (both 1980).

The Nadeem-Shabnam starrer Aaina (1977) may have had a story conceived after watching Manmohan Desai’s Aa Gale Lag Ja, Raj Kapoor’s Bobby (both 1973) and Gulzar’s Aandhi (1975), but the humongous success of the Mithun-Padmini Kolhapuri’s carbon copy Pyar Jhukta Nahin (1985) was a clear fact that Aaina was not a fluke.

Similarly, Zindagi, Bandish and Nahin Abhi Nahin had strong influences from Joe Don Baker’s Walking Tall (1973), Sophia Loren’s Sunflower (1970) and Jean Simmons’ Say Hello to Yesterday (1971), respectively, but they turned out to be classics as well.

Other than the team comprising former East Pakistanis, Nadeem turned out to be Nazrul Islam’s best bet. From Ehsaas (1972) to Aandhi (1991), Nadeem contributed generously to their success as the lead in eleven of Dada-directed films.

With Gen Ziaul Haq’s ‘Islamisation’ project, filmmaking suffered a drawback and Dada had to compromise with makeshift producers. The co-production Zameen Aasman (1985) was a rip-off of Dilip Kumar’s Aan (1952) while Aandhi (1991) was a copy of Subash Ghai’s Meri Jung, with Nadeem Baig and Faisal Rehman replacing Anil Kapoor’s and Javed Jaffery’s characters, respectively.

Nazrul Islam’s last hurrah was the double version (Urdu/Punjabi) film Kaalay Chor (1991), produced by friends of Habib Jalib as a tribute to the revolutionary poet.

With backing from powerful quarters, Nazrul Islam made sure the film had the who’s who of the industry together with loud action that had never been seen before in his films. The infamous dialogue “Zulm chaubees ghantay tay adalat sirf aath ghantay” [Injustice 24/7 while justice a mere eight hours] topped the list of dialogues that the censor board ordered to be removed. However, influentials in the then government intervened and Kaalay Chor, despite the overdose of all ingredients of a masala film, was released as it was.

Sultan Rahi’s role of Kabeera was borrowed from Amitabh Bachchan’s Shahenshah (1988), such was the downfall faced by cinema back then. In one of his earlier films, Madam Bavary (1989) starring Neeli and Javed Shaikh, Dada had to request a post-Maula Jatt famous Sultan Rahi for an extended cameo, just so that Madam Bavary would find buyers!

Two of Dada’s films that showed a lot of promise performed miserably at the box office. The disaster called Sheeshay Ka Ghar (1978) was considered one of the most expensive films of its time. Shahid’s only collaboration with Nazrul Islam failed on its release, as cine-goers could not process their chocolate hero Waheed Murad in the role of a villain.

The other was Khwahish (1993) which turned out to be the last film to be released during Dada’s lifetime. The main cause of the failure was producer Moin-ur-Rehman who went on to play the lead with a bland, expressionless face.

The producer who ‘shot himself in the face’ and not ‘the foot’ as the popular saying goes, wasted a revenge plot based on the Veena Hayat Malik infamous rape case of 1991.Within days of Khwahish’s release, Dada died of heart failure, on January 11, 1994, leaving fans, friends and family mourning the loss.

The man known to make audiences cry in cinemas nationwide with his film Zindagi’s tragic, climactic song ‘Tere sang dosti hum na torrein kabhi’ is missed to this day.

He may be long gone but those who still love Dada and his work will never forget his films or his memory.

Published in Dawn, ICON, February 4th, 2024