Throwback Sunday!

 

When Indian actress Nandita Das did a telefilm for HUM TV

While Pakistani film “Ramchand Pakistani” is known for having Nandita Das in the lead role, a telefilm done by the actress for Pakistan is something not a lot of people know about. It was in 2005 that Das did a telefilm for the popular Pakistani channel, HUM TV. Titled as “Saayey”, it was written by Ambika Samarthya and directed by Mehreen Jabbar, who had just shifted to the US and was working from there for the Pakistani drama industry – experimenting with new stories, new actors and new locations.

“Saayey”, starring Das along-with Deepti Gupta, was a beautiful story based on people’s hesitance towards accepting their failure as good human beings, and trying to live with illusions of their innocence and goodness, hence the term “Saayey”, meaning shadows; unreal, intangible. Despite being released around fifteen years ago, the telefilm is available to watch on YouTube for fans who haven’t had a chance to witness this wonderful Pak-India collaboration.

When Haseena Moin wrote a serial for Star-Plus

Following the success of “Dhoop Kinare”, the late Haseena Moin was not only approached by Raj Kapoor for writing an Indian film, which came to be called “Henna” starring Rishi Kapoor, but the popular Pakistani playwright was also asked by Indian channel Star-Plus to write a drama for them. Moin agreed, and the popular Indian channel aired a light-hearted serial called “Tanha” penned by her, which ran for almost two years on the small screen, starting in 1997 and ending in 1999. The serial also roped in Marina Khan and Sajid Hassan from Pakistan to perform two of the characters in the serial.

When Kiran Kher appeared in an ARY drama

It was in 2008 that ARY Digital released its mega-production starring greats like Asif Raza Mir, Savera Nadeem, Ali Kazmi, Azfar Rehman, Ayesha Omer, Saba Hameed, Adnan Siddiqui and many others. Titled “Kaisa Yeh Junoon”, the serial was a high-budgeted one, based on important contemporary themes like religious fundamentalism and the ensuing terrorism. Produced by Erum Binte Shahid, “Kaisa Yeh Junoon” was written by Haseena Moin and directed by Raana Sheikh, who also chose Indian actress Kiran Kher as one of the performers for the serial, who then played the role of Ayesha Omer’s mother.