Remembering great vocalist Fida Hussain on May 4, 2020It seems only yesterday but it has been three years that I invited great singer Fida Hussain along with my other colleague singers to perform in a function organized by Alhamra Arts Council for the inauguration of my book ‘Melody Singers1’ on February 02, 2017. He did oblige, came and performed despite that he was […]
Versatile hero & character actor Rishi Kapoor on May 2, 2020As if Irfan Khan’s death was not enough, we came to know of the departure of Rishi Kapoor on Thursday. A friend remarked ‘What is happening to Bollywood? Is it the curse of Narendra Moodi? The social media is full of condolences for the departed soul. The Kapoor family has been good actors and barring […]
Remembering Irfan Khan on May 1, 2020The death of famous Indian actor Irfan Khan on 5th of Ramzan was on the news headlines on the morning of April 29, 2020 remembering him as Hollywood com Bollywood actor of substance. He died in Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Research Institute, Mumbai, India on April 29, 2020. He was born in Jaipur, […]
Rakhshi — the first vamp/dancer of Lollywood on April 14, 2020It was in Khwaja Khursheed Anwar’s film ‘Jhoomer’ that I first got introduced to the talent of Pakistani actress Rakhshi. She played the role of a wrongly brought-up girl in Western style by a hired Nanny in a mother-less family. Not being able to control her habit of staying late from home in a night […]
Parveen Malik — a bilingual writer who struggled all her life for the preservation of Punjabi on March 25, 2020I remember a smart and graceful lady with grey hair namely Parveen Malik accepting my invitation for a Mushaira at my residence a couple of years ago. Despite that she lived at a far distance in Valencia Town, she graced the occasion. The other guests too were related to literature. She was already famous for […]
Remembering the famous Punjabi poet and writer Ahmad Rahi on January 21, 2020I remember meeting poet and writer Ahmad Rahi sitting on a chair in a shop on Montgomery Road, Lahore many years ago. Probably because that area used to be hub of film line peoples’ offices surrounding Lakshami Chowk. He looked to be simple man clad in modest attire with a cigarette in his fingers. Despite […]
Amrita Pritam had a hint of Punjabi in her poetry on January 7, 2020Late statesman and army officer Khizar Hyat Tiwana who headed the unionist government at the time of creation of Pakistan and opted to live in the West thereafter, passed away with his vision of Punjabi-speaking people “transcending limitations of the geographical map”, the Punjabi identity that came to be known as Punjabiat. Amrita Preetum was […]
Spotlight on the prolific Punjabi writer Afzal Hasan Randhawa on December 29, 2019I was tempted to explore the works of Punjabi writers after I came to know that Punjabi language and literature dominated the third day of the Urdu Conference that was held in the first week of December 2019 in Karachi. The foremost of the names in Punjabi literature that came to my mind was that […]
Nasreen Anjum Bhatti — an integral name among Urdu and Punjabi poets on December 29, 2019Nasreen Anjum Bhatti is among the foremost names in Punjabi and Urdu poetry. She is famous for her Urdu poetry collection ‘Bun Baas’ and Punjabi poetry collection ‘Neel Karaiyan Neelkaan’, the latter was published in 1979. She was a proponent of peace and love all her life but was a political activist at the same […]
Jilla Watan — a compilation of poems and ghazals on December 5, 2019On November 19, 2019, when former prime minister Nawaz Sharif departed for London on a special chartered Qatari Airlines plane after getting relief for 30 days medical treatment in London, this happening reminded me of a couplet by Dr Tariq Aziz from his poetry book Jilla Watan that says ‘Munsif Sei Main Insaaf Talab Kar […]