KARACHI: Seasoned actress and writer Neelofar Abbasi went down memory lane to recall her life and career journeys at an event held on Saturday evening at the Karachi Press Club (KPC).
She said her father belonged to Azamgarh and had an MA in English literature. Her mother was the sister of eminent writer Dr Aslam Farrukhi and was a critic. “I grew up in that kind of environment, surrounded by literature. From childhood, I liked to write and read stories. I was so fond of reading books that by class five, I had read most of the books penned by Krishan Chander and Ismat Chughtai. Dr Asif Farrukhi [son of Dr Aslam Farrukhi] started reading books from my small library.”
She said, “My father wanted me to do medicine. I said to him I couldn’t become a doctor. So I did MSc in microbiology. This was the time when Yawar Mehdi used to do a programme called Jashn-i-Talba on Radio Pakistan. I was introduced [in showbiz] through that show. It was my good fortune that I was selected out of 1,000 voices and got a role in a play. Television hadn’t come at the time. Dawn newspaper wrote about my performance in the radio play, ‘golden voice of the year’.”
Ms Abbasi said after the advent of television in Karachi, producer Amir Imam got in touch with her. “Me and my friends were very excited about visiting TV and looking at the likes of Tariq Aziz. Imam sahib chose me for a series called Meri Pasandeeda Kahani. Jamshed Ansari played the male lead in it and Ghazala Rafique essayed the role of my older sister. Imam sahib then took me as the female lead in the next play of the series. It was penned by A Hameed. Thankfully, I never had to look or ask for work.”
After that, she shifted the focus of her address to her late husband Qamar Ali Abbasi. She said he was an extremely nice human being. “You like someone and get married to that person. After some time, things go back to normal or you start developing differences with the person. I am so lucky that he remained the same nice person and kept the relationship the way it was until he breathed his last.”
She said she has three children (one of whom was present at the KPC on the occasion). “They are also talented and can act but none joined acting fulltime… I had decided earlier on that I would stop working once I have kids. I believe whatever you do, do it with full devotion.”
She also mentioned that she has written three books.
During the question and answer session, Ms Abbasi was asked about the iconic TV play Shehzori, written by Haseena Moin, which catapulted her to national fame. She said by that time no such play or film had been made.
“In those days, Haseena Moin used to write for the radio. One of her plays was Bhool Bhulayyan in which Jamshed Ansari played the protagonist. Jamshed brought that script to Kunwar Aftab [TV producer]. He liked it very much and said the script should be used for TV. He contacted Ms Moin and the play was then made for television with the title Naya Rasta. He cast me as heroine and Shakil as hero in it. It became popular, so much so that after that Kunwar sahib gave the writer a novella by Azeem Baig Chughtai. She dramatised it into a seven-episode play. What happened was that Kunwar Aftab got promoted to the rank of GM and the then young Mohsin Ali was asked to produce the play. Since Mohsin Ali was new to the job, he gave us a free hand,” she added.
Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2026
