Agha Nasir began his career with writing, but was lured away by the electronic media`s glamour. He was only an intermediate student in the mid-1950s when he joined Radio Pakistan. And from then on there was a long series of proverbial meteoric rises. Briefly, he climbed to the top echelons of such prestigious organisations as the Pakistan Television Corporation, Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, Shalimar Recording and Broadcasting Company, National Film Development Corporation and Pakistan National Council of Arts.

The high-profile positions, however, cost him in terms of creative writing. The jobs consumed a lot of time as he flew to destinations within and without the country on official business and for training updates, leaving little time at his disposal to concentrate on writing.

However, during his long association with radio and PTV, he scripted various programmes and wrote such memorable plays as Swalia Nishan, which revolved round the killings and mayhem in the Karachi of the early 1990s. He also introduced innovative formats for talk shows, which continue to inspire such shows on the ubiquitous news channels.

Now he has returned to writing with the passion of a lover who has long been separated from his beloved. During the last five or six years of relative ease, he has written four remarkable books. Although he is still holding a key position with a private channel, he says he is not as much occupied as he was during the years he headed various organisations. “I daily give three to four hours to writing,” he says in an interview with Dawn. “These days I`m busy writing my autobiography. The material I need is scattered and it takes time to dig out relevant things.”

The last book, Hum jeetay ji masroof rahay, published in July 2008 has transformed the media luminary into a star of literature. The book was so well received that it has already exhausted its second edition and a revised third edition he is working on will appear sometime this year. Gumshuda log is another popular book written by him. In that book he penned lively life sketches of eminent personalities, including Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Z. A. Bokhari, Sadequain, Khwaja Moinuddin and Saleem Ahmed.

Hum jeetay ji masroof rahay is about Faiz Ahmed Faiz`s poetry. Selecting about 100 pieces of poetry by Faiz, Agha sahib has explained in his pellucid style the context in which they were written. He says Faiz`s poetry and personality both fascinated him so much so that he had committed to memory much of his poetry.

“A couple of times Faiz sahib faltered while reciting his poems and I was at hand to fill in the blanks,” he says.

Talking about Faiz, he says he was an amiable person, loved by his fans and associates, a patriotic Pakistani, but maligned by his detractors. “He was neither an atheist nor a traitor as was dubbed by his foes and vested interests. He was, however, not given to flaunting his religious beliefs and patriotism,” says Agha sahib, who has been so close to the poet that even when they were apart, they were in touch.

“Once when Faiz sahib was in India putting up with ambassador Abdul Sattar in New Delhi, the press here set off a rumour that Faiz had agreed to become vice-chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University. When I asked Faiz sahib about it, he said, `Yes, I was given such an offer but I declined it, reminding them that if I wished to become a vice-chancellor, I had several universities back in my own country`.”

Agha sahib has many fond memories of Faiz`s to share. He recalls how many times Faiz was made to suffer for the sins he had not committed. Faiz was reluctant when Agha, as the general-manager of PTV`s Lahore centre, tried to persuade him to write something in Punjabi. “He said what could he write in the presence of the enduring poetry written by such saints as Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah, Sultan Bahu.... But I argued that because Ghalib and Iqbal`s poetry was there, no more Urdu poetry could be written. He was convinced and wrote such beautiful poems as Rabba Sachia tu tay aakhia see/ Ja oai bandia dunya da shah ain tu ... .”Answering a question about the drama serials presented by various entertainment channels, he says “I don`t accept as dramas what is presented on both Pakistani and Indian channels. Of course, they are soap operas, where gaudily dressed women seem to be just parading about and a situation takes weeks even to move a step forward. They do not follow the rules of drama,” he says. “However, they have the advantage of modern technology and use better techniques than we did earlier. But they have no content.”

Qurratul Ain Hyder is his all-time favourite. His favourite poets are Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Mustafa Zaidi, Nasir Kazmi, Ahmed Faraz and Munir Niazi, apparently in that order.

He says he has always had an English and an Urdu book at his bedside. These days he is reading Jamila Hashmi`s novel (Dasht-i-Sos) on Mansur Hallaj and an autobiography of Jordan`s King Hussain “which I read in intervals in writing”.

Born in Meerut on February 9, 1937, Agha Nasir did his master`s in history from Karachi University.

Agha Nasir`s books are Agha Nasir key saat dramay, Television dramay, Gumshudah log, Gulshan-i-Yaad and Hum jeetay ji masroof rahay. He is recipient of various honours, including the President`s Pride of Performance Award.