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Farooq Qaiser’s creations were larger than life in many ways | Guddu Film Archive We whiled away the hours chatting well past midnight, Farooq Qaiser and I, on the bus from Isfahan to Tehran. It was almost the last leg of the National College of Arts tour of Iran, with Afghanistan still to come. Farooq was among the 30 students who made the fascinating journey in that fateful March of 1971, all of us quite unaware of the horrifying saga unfolding in East Pakistan. He was studying textile design and had caught my eye with the hilarious skits he and his pal Shahid Nadeem performed at the college campfire. He listened avidly as I described the satire on British television and the humour of Jacques Tati. His ability to understand human frailties and the vulnerability of the underdog, later exemplified through his skits on stage, was evident even then. ....
Farooq Qaiser with his alter ego Uncle Sargam | Guddu Film Archive Pakistan Television has produced countless gems over a period of time but not all of them were timeless. Characters such as Uncle Jedi, Qabacha and Hasnat Bhai inspired a generation but ultimately faded away with the passage of time. But one character never faded from memory Uncle Sargam, created by the legendary Farooq Qaiser, became a household name the moment the character debuted in 1976. Those were the days when music director Sohail Rana used to do a weekly music show Saaray Dost Hamaray from Pakistan Television’s (PTV’s) Karachi centre. The kids who participated in the show addressed Sohail Rana as ‘uncle’, and used to sway sideways while singing. When Kaliyaan debuted in 1976, Uncle Sargam made sure the puppets performed in the same manner as the kids in the music show, and sang, ‘Aao mil ke gayein, aayen baayen shaayen, sur ka tiah paancha kar ke waapas ghar ko jayein’ [Come let us si ....
IN MEMORIAM: OUR BIG BIRD, FAROOQ QAISER - Newspaper dawn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dawn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Daily Times May 21, 2021 It takes patience, practice and persistence to create a fictional character, add life to it, and elevate its status to that of a national figure. Farooq Qaiser was able to achieve all this and more during his lifetime. A creative genius by birth – and a passionate learner – Farooq Qaiser advanced the thoughts of the youth as well as the intellectual capacity of adults through his well-scripted puppet shows. Indeed, his television show, Kaliyan, was a novel concept when it was first aired in 1976. While puppetry may have been an art form in villages and suburban areas, it was not promoted as a television show with a theme, story, and message. Through Kaliyan and Uncle Sargam, the masses across Pakistan were introduced to a puppet-based show akin to the American educational children’s television series, ‘Sesame Street’. The man who magically brought puppets to life passed away on May 14, 2021. Farooq Qaiser was 75. His popular TV programmes ....