Pehchan: A tribute to Pervaiz Malik

Islamabad

Director-Screenplay: Pervaiz Malik

Producer: Anis Doosani

Music: Nisar Bazmi

Cast: Nadeem, Shabnam, Sabiha, Qavi and Munawar Saeed.

Mandwa Film Club of Lok Virsa pays tribute to Director-Screenwriter-Producer Pervaiz Malik with screening of film ‘Pehchan’ on Saturday.

Pervaiz Malik happens to be one of our highly educated directors who entered the film trade in 1964 with film ‘Heera Aur Pather’. This was the beginning of his partnership with actor-producer Waheed Murad, Writer Masroor Anwar and music director Sohail Rana. They went on to give us ‘Arman’, ‘Ehsan’ and ‘Doraha’. Film trade in Karachi, on the verge of collapse, was given a new life by these films by the trio, supported by Zeba, Deeba, Shamim Ara and others. Nobody can take away this credit from them.

Sooner or later, all film partnership move on in separate directions. So did this one. Pervaiz Malik moved up from Karachi to Lahore. His camp now included Nadeem, Shabnam and still later Babra Sharif. ‘Pehchan’, ‘Talaash’, ‘Mehman’, ‘Intekham’, ‘Qurbani’, ‘Meharbani’, ‘Gumnam’, ‘Kamyabi’ and ‘Zanjeer’ are only some of the films which Pervaiz Malik directed at Lahore in the seventies and eighties. In a long career of thirty years, Pervaiz Malik made few films knowing less was more. A highly selective director, his filmography reads only handful of films in three decades. In comparison, other film makers landed with that many films just in couple of years.

Pervaiz Malik earned respect and distinction in film trade over the years. He received President's Pride of Performance for his directorial contributions. He spent last years of his life in Islamabad and produced-directed TV serials. His two sons have gone on in the media to carry the traditions their father left behind and cherished so much.

And now ‘Pehchan’. Released in 1975, Pervaiz Malik was competing this year with smash hits ‘Zeenat’ and ‘Anari’ (director: S. Suleman), ‘Mera Naam Hai Mohabat’ (director: Shabab Kairanvi), and above all, ‘Eik Gunah Aur Sahi’ ( Director: Hassan Tariq). With these biggies around, ‘Pehchan’ still made gold at the box office. Nadeem and Shabnam  in romantic leads, Sabiha as the innocent tortured mother , Qavi as her son, and Munawar Saeed as the wicked vicious villain, all of them clicked well. And yes, Nayyar Sultana ,perhaps for the first time, appeared in a brief guest role as ‘jogen’, giving lip sync to Naheed Akhtar's award winning ‘Allah hi Allah kia karo’. Other melodies from ‘Pehchan’ also rated well on the music charts that year. That was Pervaiz Malik and his ‘Pehchan’.

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