Several Indian and local publishers have contacted noted humour and satire writer Anwar Maqsood with offers to publish his TV plays and serials that may fill several volumes if printed, but he has so far not accepted the offer. “I don't have the courage to publish my works,” he says without elaborating in an interview with Dawn on Wednesday.
Many of his fans fondly recall a young Anwar Maqsood, with an extraordinary white flowing mass of hair framing his face, burst onto the TV screen in the 1970s. He scripted his own stage shows and wrote memorable plays and serials such as Aangan Tehra, Sitara aur Mehrunnisa, Show-Sha, Studio Dhai and so on. He has never looked back since, continuing to produce programmes, combining his typical wit, humour and satire, for one entertainment channel or another. Besides interviewing important personalities for the ARY channel, where he holds a senior position, he presents a play at least once a month. But Anwar-Rama is a 13-episode weekly show that will go on air in a month or so, most probably on Eid-ul-Fitr, on the channel..
Once he contributed a weekly column to the Hurriyet daily. But apparently he trod on the toes of influential persons, who could not digest his biting satire and would have his columns banned for several months. “After every two columns, I had to wait as long as six months to resume.” He, however, has agreed to contribute a weekly column to an Urdu daily and it is hoped that his fans will be able to enjoy it soon and the bigwigs in the democratic set-up will also bear with it.
Anwar Maqsood's morning begins at 6am when he does the reading and writing work in the morning before going to office between 10am and 11am. He goes to bed between 10.30pm and 11pm. “Even if I'm in a show and come home as late as 3am, I get up at my usual time.”
Asked if he saw any improvement in the situation in Pakistan, he said in his typical witty fashion “We have been praying for Pakistan daily for the last 61 years. Prayer hasn't worked. Now we should try curse, in the hope it will have its reverse effect on the country.” He is, however, happy that democracy has finally arrived in the country. “Democracy is a good thing, indeed.”
When reminded of his bitter-sweet relationship with Gen Zia-ul-Haq, he said “It is easy to become friends with the rulers, but it is difficult to keep this friendship going.
“I have friendship with none but my grandchildren. Rather than calling me Dada or Nana, they simply call me Anwar, unless there are guests in the house.”
Asked if he had any plan to enter politics in the future, he said “To enter politics one should have heaps of ill-gotten money. I do not even have much of my hard-earned one.”
Anwar Maqsood is one of the 10 siblings, three of whom including his bureaucrat brother Ahmed Maqsood Hameedi, have died. About his late brother he says “I have yet to come across a person who is as well-read as Ahmed Bhai was.”
All his siblings, including renowned playwright Fatima Surayya Bajia, poet Zehra Nigah, kitchen maestro Zubaida Tariq and broadcaster Sara Naqvi, have distinguished themselves in their respective fields. But he does not believe that creativity runs in genes. “We had a literary environment at home and a good library, where would sit and read books. So, it was natural that we all developed a reading habit and benefited from it.” About the relationship with his siblings, he says “We live apart, but live like a single family. No day passes by when we do not meet.”
He began writing when he was a schoolboy. “Our teacher Khwaja Moinuddin, who wrote such classic plays as Laal killay say Lalukhet tuk and Mirza Ghalib Bundar Road Par, was a great writer. Nobody could write as beautiful sentences as he did. He inspired me to try my hand at writing. I began writing with parodies of popular poems.”
He is reluctant to name any particular writer as his favourite and says “I do listen to him who sings good and read him who writes good. Among Urdu columnists, however, none has matched Ibn-i-Insha.”
Although he is better known for his TV programmes, he is a very good painter also. Though his drawing room is adorned with paintings by other painters, such as Bashir Mirza, he says “whatever I paint sells out immediately Therefore, he doesn't have his own paintings in the house”. Anyhow, every four or five years, he manages to hold a painting exhibition.
Painting is what he says that helps run his household. How did he start painting? “As a boy, I used to paint on walls with pieces of charcoal. Seeing my keenness for painting, Sadequain and Shakir Ali (the two giants of art in Pakistan), who used to visit our home, provided me with painting paraphernalia and put me on the path to become a successful painter. I got my first award for painting in 1973.” He paints for eight to 10 hours on Saturdays and Sundays, when he is off from office.
When asked if he was satisfied with the immense work on popular TV channels, he said he wasn't. “Though it was satisfying to try to create ripples of smile on weary faces, I couldn't have any positive influence on society.”
Apparently believing in Edison's saying “Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration”, Anwar Maqsood has lived a really busy life. Asked what he aspires to accomplish more, he recites a verse, implying that he has seen and done a lot, and now is the time to relax
Kia seir iss kharabay ka buhut/ ab chal kay sau rehiyay/kisi dewar kay sayay mein/ munh pay laykay daman ko
