LAHORE: The Lahore Literary Festival witnessed a bigger turnout of visitors on Saturday at Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall, where besides sessions and talks, there were music and old film songs from Pakistan film industry being played as a memory note of the heydays of Pakistani cinema. These songs were being played from the archives of the National History Museum.

The Lahore Arts Council had also arranged music and singing on the occasion and students and teachers of Alhamra Academy of Performing Arts sang songs and played instrumental music on the lawns of Alhamra. Popular OST of television play Ishq Mursid Tera Mera Hai Piyar Amar was also played on instruments and was much appreciated by the keen audience besides breathtaking flute performances were also part of the music ensemble.

There were many thought-provoking sessions at the festival. One such session titled, ‘Lahore Cinema: Between Realism and Fable’ based on a book written by Iftakar Dadi that was published in 2022 highlighted the fact that how magnificent and effective Pakistani cinema was in its early years. And what fantastic films were produced during the heydays of cinema in Pakistan. The panelist Iftakhar Dadi, the author of the book, a professor in history of art at Comell University in conversation with Nasreen Rehman, a screenwriter, historian and translator, threw light on the fact that how commercial cinema has been among the most powerful vectors of social and aesthetic modernisation in South Asia.

The book probes the role of language, rhetoric, lyric, and form in the making of cinematic meaning as well as the relevance of the Urdu cultural universe to mid-century Bombay film making.

Dadi pointed out the fact that there was an absence of an official archive for the cinema of Pakistan and the younger generation did not know film personalities such as Khawaja Khurshid Anwar, an all-time great music composer and director, and other leading figures from Pakistani cinema.

To Mr Dadi, many landmark films were produced from 1947-1980. He discussed in detail various aspects of certain splendid movies such as

Badnaam, Anarkali and Mughal-e-Azam and showed some of the clips.

In another session titled ‘Lahore Ki Deewangi’, author Asghar Nadeem Syed threw light on his book. The moderator of the session was Sheeba Alam.

Mr Syed said those cultures grow which have got their roots in history and Lahore’s culture was multifold and enriched in many aspects.

Recalling the partition times, he said many literary personalities left Lahore amidst Partition such as Khushwant Singh who used to study at Government College, Lahore, and not only Singh but Yash Chpora, Deva Nanad, Balraj Sani also left Lahore.

He also talked about literary stalwarts who migrated to Lahore such as Sahir Ludhanvi, Shehzad Ahmed, A Hameed, Ahmad Rahi and many others. Most of these literary figures found places to live in Krishan Nagar or Royal Park areas of Lahore. Sahir Ludhanvi could not get a job here and finally he moved to India.

Mentioning Saadat Hasan Manto, he shared with the audience how Manto came to Karachi by sea through a ship and after reaching Lahore he had to face four court cases. He overall threw light on the literary and cultural scene of Lahore.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2024