Dawn Tuesday Review, 28 May – 3 Jun, 1996 If he were not an actor? I didn’t ask him the question because I wanted to get on with some serious topics: art cinema, Indo-Pakistani films, life, religion, society… While he was rambling on about these subjects with the confidence of having perused a few thousand […]
Talat Husain – “Acting is a third-rate art” Read More »
Dawn, Tuesday Review, April 23-29, 1996 What I fail to understand about most writings on the legal rights of Pakistani Muslim women is silence on the right of divorcing one’s husband. No, I am not referring to Khula. I am referring to the woman’s right to say to her husband, “I divorce you,” and annul
Women’s right to divorce in Islam Read More »
‘8 Days a Week’, Dawn Tuesday Review, 23-29 April 1996 The sexiest man of the sixties is back again. As is no longer unusual for him, he is appearing in a supporting role this time. Sean Connery plays an understated King Arthur against Richard Gere’s rash and robust Lancelot in the movie The First Knight.
Dawn, Tuesday Review, April 16-22, 1996 It is so difficult to write about A. Hameed. It is just as easy to hail him as the greatest romantic in Urdu literature as it would be appropriate to put him down as a pathetic hack-writer. He has written the best of fiction and he has written the worst of
A. Hameed – A dream merchant Read More »
‘8 Days a Week’, Dawn Tuesday Review, 26 March – 1 April 1996 If you read one book this week, read Pura Chand Aur Adha Geet … An anthology of poems by Azhar Niaz, who belongs to a special breed of poets who thrived in the Karachi University around the late eighties and early seventies
Pura Chand Aur Adha Geet Read More »
This brief write-up was published as an entry in the ‘8 Days a Week’ column of Dawn Tuesday Review, 26 March – 1 April 1996. Needless to say, my views as a film critic have evolved much since then, and more so in favour of the mainstream Pakistani movies of the past (to which category
Dawn, Tuesday Review, March 5-11, 1996 If you ask me to describe Aslam Azhar in a single word, I would describe him as a ‘reader’. Not only because he is a reader of books but also because he is a reader of the signs of time. He has tried not only to read into the
Aslam Azhar – A dialogue with a Dervish Read More »
Dawn, Tuesday Review, February 27-March 4, 1996 Dr Qureshi evaded my request for his resume in a light vein. “There have been so many interviews about my life. Why not base this one on my thoughts alone?” And which of his works would he consider to be the pinnacle of his thought, the best fruit
Dr Waheed Qureshi – The scholar gypsy Read More »
Dawn, Tuesday Review, January 23-29, 1996 A few weeks back there was a musical programme arranged by some university students. The band on the stage was singing Kokokorina, and the unsuspecting crooner mixed up a couple of lines. I was amazed to see that not only did all the listeners begin hooting the performers, but
Sohail Rana – The unstrung hero Read More »
Dawn Tuesday Review, 2-8 January 1996 Professor A. H. Dani is a challenger. He revels in attacking the boundaries of knowledge and, quite often, he succeeds in stretching them beyond their existing domains. Not far from the beginnings of his career in archaeological research he questioned the long accepted notion of the historians of Alexander
Dr A. H. Dani – History in the remaking Read More »