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OBITUARY
Farewell, Pervez Malik
By Khurram Ali Shafique
Daily Dawn November 30, 2008 |
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Film-maker Pervez Malik died on November 18, 2008. it can't be the end of the
story if we remember where it began.
lt began in those days when the Pakistani nation had newly earned its
freedom — and that included the freedom to dream, which is something
which we seem to be forfeiting voluntarily these days. Pervez was nine
years old when Pakistan was born. His family had a background in
military service, but he got influenced by a class fellow whose father
ran a film distribution business. His name was Waheed Murad. |
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Attending previews
of Indian and Pakistani films, meeting celebrities from the national
film industry and listening to them discussing the possibilities of
success or failure of a new release, the two boys began to dream about
making films with pertinent messages and thus bringing about a
revolution of thought. They planned to study film-making in the US after
graduation, but Waheed was the only child and his parents wouldn’t let
him go away for four years. So Pervez went alone while Waheed took
admission in Karachi University to pursue his second highest passion,
English Literature.
When Pervez returned four years later, he was perhaps the only
professional with a Masters degree in film-making from California and
who was willing to make a career in mainstream Pakistani cinema. Waheed
had already produced two films under his own banner, Film Arts, but had
not acted in them. He was about to appear in the lead role in the third,
preparation for which was already complete and another director had been
hired. Due to some differences which arose between him and Waheed,
Pervez got to start his career with the film instead of waiting for the
next venture. That film was Heera Aur Patthar (1964), which was followed
by Armaan (1966) and Ehsaan (1967), all under the banner of Film Arts
and with the same team (These three films have been discussed in detail
in The Mystery behind Waheed Murad published in the November 23 issue of
Images). |
Pervez and Waheed began to branch out in slightly different directions
after their third film together. While Waheed continued with the highly
symbolic manner of storytelling, Pervez began to spell out his messages
a bit more clearly. He directed 21 films over the next 25 years and
almost always wrote his own screenplay. Almost always, these were
parables about Pakistan.
A typical Pervez Malik film, a young man returns home to a mother from
whom he ran away as a child. Since she doesn’t know what he looks like,
a fugitive sees the opportunity of impersonating him and tries to kill
him by throwing him off a moving
train. The heir survives but loses his
memory. |
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Following only a retarded instinct, he
keeps moving and somehow reaches his native village where the villain is
now living under a fake identity. Having lost his memory, the real heir
is nothing more than a madman and even his mother fails to recognise him
or give him shelter, while the only person who has a hunch about him is
the old female fakir who is blind. While most among the younger
generation might never have watched these films, they all no doubt
familiar with the signature song of the fakir woman, Allah hi Allah kiya
karo…. The film was poignantly called Pehchan (1975), and that is what
it was really all about: The young man was a personification of the
educated, urban Pakistani who loves his motherland but has lost his
memory and is no longer aware of his true “identity” (hence the film’s
title).
Unlike Waheed, whose messages never got “decoded” in his lifetime
(perhaps for his own good), the patriotic undertone of Pervez’s work was
widely appreciated. Three of his films were declared exempt from
entertainment tax and he also received the President’s Pride of
Performance award. |
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In the early days
of the late General Ziaul Haq, when the nation was in doldrums on the
question of impending elections, Pervez released a benign mixture of The
Sound of Music and Jane Eyre, but quite symbolically named it Intikhab
(1978). Since nobody expected a commercial film-maker in Pakistan to be
too profound, the title was interpreted as referring to the boy
‘choosing’ the girl although, in Urdu, the word also means ‘election’.
Revisiting the film now, it is quite amusing to notice that the ‘boy’ in
the film is a retired colonel who is being too strict with his numerous
children while the ‘girl’ is a governess who never tires of reminding
her dictatorial master: “Colonel |
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Saheb! You’re
retired now. You can’t turn a home into a barrack. The children need
love.” Obviously, this is a parable about Pakistan under military rule.
That’s why the death of Pervez Malik can’t be the end of the story. The
24 films which he has left us, most of which were also co-written by
him, are our collective dreams captured by the one most qualified to do
so. We need to interpret them, and we need to do that soon, because
sometimes dreams also come true.
Read more on Pervez Malik
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