Daily Times

A bang in electronic media in Pakistan ended PTV’s monopoly in early 2000 that was officially born  on  26 November 1964, after an introduction by Syed Wajid Ali (who initiated a television project  in 1961). Aslam Azher the legend was PTV’s first  Managing Director, thef irst  Center was in Lahore and then there was no looking back. It expanded vertically and horizontally.Then remarkably creative, conscientious and capable  producers, technicians and performers ( fortunately no marketeers then) came together to raise baby PTV into a giant institution.

A variety of  sports were nurtured by PTV through innovation in presentation. However, the magic  created in airing live cricket matches made many of us Cricket crazy. Additionally, Munir Hussain’s chaste Urdu, Iftikhar Ahmed’s immaculate and Chisti Mujahid’s fluent  English  won hearts of even masses. Dramas with bravura librettos and par excellence direction that brought best out of self-taught performers, constructed what is referred to as the Golden Era of PTV.

My personal favourites that I can recall among drama series include kiran kahani, aakhree chattan,,Khuda ki basti, Uncle Urfi, Tabeer,Waris, Samundar, Ankahi,  Khawaja and sons, Chand Girhan, angan tairha, baa dab ba mulhiza, sona chandi,Janjal Pura, dhoop kinaraey, karb, Alpha Bravo Charlie and  sunharay din and   aik muhabbat sau afsaany  in serial and Ustani Rahat ki Kahani Fehmida ki Zabani in long plays. I loved all plays of Rohi Bano, Khalida Riyasat and Tahira Naqvi. Watching smashing Feryal Gauhar and Jamal Shah (together), Leila Zubairi and Hassam Qazi in relatively weaker dramas of Quetta centre and Dr. Tariq Rahim from Peshawar was indeed a visual delight. The contribution of lowly paid but highly passionate set designers, male up artists and camera crew are worth remembering.

Dedicated to that generation of PTV viewers who experienced fixing of civilian supremacy while they were battling with tv antennas on the roof top

Presenting  dramas on incest, infertility, war, refugees, dowry violence, romantic dilemmas, historical wars and conflicts, feudalism  and what not with meager resources and freedom was indeed a conquest that  goes to PTV.

In Zia’s repressive  regime, producing  excellent musical shows while remaining compliant to  stifling political Islamization when classical dance -programmes like Pail too were sent to gallows, was not less than a miracle, that PTV yielded.

Fifty Fifty,  Farooque Qaisar’s Kulyan and Uncle Sargam’s show, shows by Anwar Maqssod provided us much needed good and therapeutic laughter. Allan Nanha duo ( Kamal Ahmed Rizvi & Rafi Khawar) set new heights of satire  and performers like , Khalid Abbas Dar,Malik Anokha, Umar Sharif,  Latif Kapadia, Zulqarnain, Athar Shah, Ismail Tara, Majid Jahangir etc. entertained masses and classes equally. From Zia Mohyuddin’s exotic shows, to the unique brilliance of the trio of Quresh Pur, Obaidullah Baig and Iftikhar Arif in Kasuti to popular shows like Takra by Dildar Bhatti and Neelam Ghar of Tariq, PTV shaped history and impacted many generations.

The mind-blowing performances of some empressesin singing, like Noor Jahan, Roshan Ara, Naheed Akhtar, Mehnaz, Mala, Runa Laila, Farida Khanum, Abida Parvin, Iqbal Bano, and Bushra, Zeba, Saleema and Naveed incomedy, broadcasted from PTV, are timeless treasures.

Khalid Zaidi, Khawaja Najum, Shoaib Mansoor, Sahira Kazmi, Viqar Azeem,  Athar,  Qasim Jalali, Shahzad Khalil, Mohsin Ali, Ayub Khawar, HaiderRizvi ,Yawar Hayat, Muhammad Nisar Hussain, Naveed Zafar, Raja Musaddeq, Tanveer Qureshi, Moneeza Hashmi, Farkhada Shaheen and Nargis Hashmi would remain on the top of the list of most inspirational TV producers.

Unlike, PTV NEWS , some of the exceptional News readers like Shaista Zaid (English), Surriya Shahab, Khalid Hameed and Ishrat Saqib (Urdu),  were always respected ,

PTV actors whom I praise  most and  believe that if they were in Hollywood, they could have won more than one Oscar include Saleem Nasir, Moeen Akhtar, Shafi Mohammad, Qazi Wajid, Jamshed Ansari ,Begum Khurshid Mirza, Arsh Muneer, Rohi Bano and Firdous Jamal. PTV brought to our homes the spellbinding performances of Uzma Gillani, Saba Hameed, Samina Ahmed, Sarvat Atique,Sania Saeed, Samina Peerzada, Zaheen Tahira, Qavi,Abid Ali, Subhani Ba Younus ,Mehmood Ali, Qurban Jillani, Ali Ejaz, Afzal Ahmed,Rubina Ashraf ,Sohail Asghar, Mehmood Aslam, Abid Ali, Shahzad Raza, Noman Ejaz, Manzoor Ahmed, Nisar Qadri, Akbar Subhani, Zil–e-Subhan, Shakeel, Javed Sheikh, Marina Khan, Shahanaz Sheikh, Behrouz Sabzvari, Rahat Kazmi, ,Azra Sherwani, Muhammad Yusuf, Imtiaz, Aslam latar, Talat Hussain, Khayam Sarhadi among many others. PTV made various writers our  household names and most prominent in this list are Amjad Islam Amjad, Asghar Nadeem, Fatima Surriya, Nurul Huda Shah, Hasina Moeen, Munno Bhai, Ataul Haq Qasmi and Yunus Javed. PTV gave newer fascination to patriotic through Jeeway Jeeway  of  Aaali jee, sohni dharti of Masroor Anwar and dil dil of Nisar Nasik. Suhail Rana is still remembered not only for his hit film songs but composing immortal national songs and children’s music. Kashmir cause was carved into our memory lane through Captain Hamza played by bureaucrat actor Rauf Khalid. Urdu Mushaira and Muharram Transmission  have a great contribution in spreading  enlightenment through PTV. However, it remains an inconvenient truth that Josh Malih Abadi , Faiz and Jalib remained banned on PTV for over a decade. Writer and actor Mustansar Tarar  the famous chacho alongwith sparkling hostesses like Sofia Shahid, Quratul Ain and Narjis entertained millions during morning hours.

Times kept on  changing  but PTV maintains its physiognomies;  state owned-controlled and restrictive. Yes, there is change in dress code,  disappearance of women announcers, unparalleled dramas, shows on music, art and literature, lesser attention to pronunciation and content  and hunting new talent. PTV may make feel its loyal viewers  embittered  due to its deteriorating standards but its nostalgic value can never be  taken away. May you remain young at heart with a new galaxy of super stars  and grow old sensibly. Happy birthday our very own PTV.

In 1995, when PTV advertised for young anchors for its new idea -a breakfast show Roshan Pakistan the writer was selected as one of the four anchors for daily morning live transmissions out of nearly 400 contestants. Later on, she  became the first woman solo anchor for the same transmission. In 1998, before leaving for her higher studies, she got an opportunity to anchor live morning current affairs transmission savairay savaiary as journalist Talat Hussain left it, then. She survived two changes in the government during her regular appearance from PTV.

The writer is the recipient of PTV award of Excellence in 2001 for her series Gender watch