“Ghalib” filmmaker dies
Staff Report
KARACHI: Distinguished progressive writer Khalique Ibrahim Khalique expired at his home on Friday after a prolonged illness at the age of 80. Khalique was the writer and producer of the film ‘Ghalib’. He leaves behind sons Haris and Tariq and wife Hamra.According to the KaraFilm festival, a pioneering documentary filmmaker and formidable intellectual, Khalique spent his entire working career with the Films Division of the Government of Pakistan at a time when government institutions actually produced worthwhile films. He began his career with the Information Films of India in Bombay and was also associated with the Bollywood film industry as a script and dialogue writer. He was co-writer for example on the film “Jugnu.” More than a dozen of his documentary films have received international awards at various film festivals around the world including a prize at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival for a docu-drama on Mirza Ghalib.
Among his other notable films were films on the architecture and cultural heritage of Pakistan and on Mohammad Ali Jinnah which also had the distinction of being banned during the era of General Ziaul Haq. Khalique has also written a number of books including his memoirs “Manzilein Gard Ke Maanand” and a book of long poems titled “Ujaalon Ke Khwab.” According to reports that appeared in the press in 2004, the first 15 chapters of the memoir were serialized by Afkaar from September 1987 to March 1989. The next 12 were serialized by Irtiqa over the ensuing eight years. Ibrahim Khalique came to Pakistan in October 1953, but his memoirs cover the pre-Pakistan days. In a prefatory note to the book, he promises that the next part of the story of his life will be published later.
His ancestors were Kauls, Kashmiri Brahmins, who converted to Islam and settled in Lucknow. He was born in February 1926 in Hyderabad Deccan where his father, Hakim Mohammad Rafiq Ibrahim (1896-1963), ran a clinic. Shortly afterwards, they returned to Lucknow where he received his early education. The family established the famous Takmeel-ut-Tibb College in Lucknow, and Khalique Ibrahim Khalique’s grandfather and father played an active part in the freedom movement. In 1939, his father brought out a weekly, Aag, which was soon banned by the government for propagating Marxist ideals and giving expression to the demand for the freedom of India. Khalique Ibrahim Khalique’s own literary career spans more than six decades. He emerged as a poet and writer in the 1940s and was published across the Indian subcontinent in both English and Urdu. He has hundreds of articles, papers, translations and many books to his credit. In addition, he made a number of first-rate documentaries. After graduating from Punjab University, Lahore, he started his career in Mumbai with Information Films of India. On coming to Pakistan, he joined the department of films and publications. He became the pioneering documentary filmmaker in the country, and received numerous national and international awards. His most famous films include “Ghalib”, “Pakistan Story”, “Architec-ture”, “Cultural Heritage of Pakistan”, “One Acre of Land”, “Pathway to Prosperity” and “Coconut Tree”.
Source: Daily Times
Date:9/30/2006
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