Shoaib Hashmi to write for TV after 25 years
LAHORE, April 05,2005: Veteran playwright Shoaib Hashmi will pen the script for a comedy series that will be his first piece for television in nearly 25 years, TV celebrity Samina Ahmed told Daily Times on Monday. “I will produce the series, and he (Shoaib) will write the script.”
Ahmed said that she would also produce another comedy series written by Indian writer Sajjid Latif.Hashmi is the renowned writer who created classics such as Akar Bakar, Such Gup and Tal Matol. His last serial was Balila, which he wrote when Ziaul Haq was president. It was banned soon after its first few episodes aired.
“Most plays aired on TV are serious. I think people need good comedy. It is easy to make people cry, but very difficult to make them laugh,” said Ahmed. “Pakistani culture has put many constraints on TV shows. For instance, people become uneasy if things like dating are shown. Making comedy serials becomes much harder with such limitations.”
Ahmed said that her production house was established in 1998-99. “I think we’ve done very well as far as comedies are concerned.”
The production house is currently airing four comedy series: Naak Mein Dam written by Sajjid Latif on Geo, Hanste Bastay by Farooq Qaiser on Hum, Inspector Khoji by Vasay Chaudhry on PTV (directed by Samina’s son Zain Ahmed) and Hoo Bahoo on Indus.
In reply to a question, Ahmed said that it was difficult to do theatre nowadays because most artists were busy working for the large number of television channels that recently begun. “However, we performed a play Hatak at the ‘Ibsen drama festival’ organised by the Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA). We will stage another play at the next festival.”
Source: Daily Times
Date:4/5/2005
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