‘Ishq-e-Laila’

Islamabad

Director: Munshi Dil

Producer: J.C. Anand

Music: Safdar Hussain

Cast: Sabiha, Santosh Kumar, Allaudin.  

Lok Virsa Mandwa Film Club screened ‘Ishq-e-Laila’ on Saturday, at 3 p.m.

Let’s turn back the pages of film history and go down the memory lane in 1957. Producer-Distributor J.C. Anand of Eveready Pictures was a pillar of the film trade. He had, in the past, produced blockbusters like ‘Sassi’ (1954), ‘Heer’ (1955), ‘Hatam’ (1956) and ‘Miss’ 1956. He joined hands with director Munshi Dil to film folk desert romance.

Incidentally J.C. Anand was not alone doing this. Producer-Director Anwar Kamal Pasha (‘Ghulam’, ‘Do Ansoo’, ‘Gumnam’ and ‘Qatil’) was also making the same subject titled ‘Laila Majnu’ with Bahar and Aslam Pervaiz. Both the films in competition were released on April 12, 1957. One of the two had to bite this dust, and in this case, ‘Laila Majnu’ became the disaster of the year, soon forgotten (and forgiven). ‘Ishq-e-Laila’ became top hit of the year.

It is always difficult to make period films. With budgetary constraints, the producer, director and even art director cannot come out with the kind of effects and production values required for such epics. Sets, decor, extras and backdrops almost always leave a lot to be desired. Ishq-e-Laila's forte lies in its casting(Sabiha, Santosh Kumar) and memorable score by Safdar Hussain. Lyrics by Qateel Shifai too added to its everlasting appeal. Zubaida Khanum, Iqbal Bano, Saleem Raza and Inayat Hussain Bhatti added their share to enormous popularity of ‘Ishq-e-Laila’. The film has close to dozen melodies, meaning a song every 10 to 15 minutes. ‘Pareshan raat saari hai sitaron tum to so jao,’ ‘Jigar chalni hai’ and ‘Chand takey chup chup ke’ have not lost their magic all through the last 60 years.

As for box office, ‘Ishq-e-Laila’ was competing against not only the lame duck ‘Anarkali’ but strong titles like ‘Yakey Wali’, ‘Wadah’ and ‘Saat lakh’. All four of them were smash hits of the year. That is how things were in 1957.

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