PNCA to pay tribute to ‘Uncle Sargam’ tomorrow

Islamabad: Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) will organise a condolence reference to pay a tribute to Farooq Qaiser known as ‘Uncle Sargam’ on May 20.

PNCA Director General Dr Fouzia Saeed, film expert and in-charge PNCA Film Section Ijaz Gul, Salima Hashmi, Arshad Mahmood, other personalities and members of his family would shed light on the life and contributions of prominent puppeteer.

He was died of cardiac arrest at the age of 75 on Friday. "Farooq Qaiser, best known as ‘Uncle Sargam’, was a household name for Pakistani kids of the 80s and 90s," said DG PNCA.

She said his departure is a huge loss for the country, adding that he will remain in our hearts forever. Farooq Qaiser aka ‘Uncle Sargam’ (born October 31, 1945) in Lahore was a famous artist, newspaper columnist, TV show director, puppeteer, script writer and voice actor.

Qaiser was well known for his fictional puppet ‘Uncle Sargam’ introduced in 1976 in children’s television show ‘Kaliyan’. Farooq Qaiser was also a phenomenal cartoonist, newspaper columnist and writes for the newspapers, famous for his column-writing name ‘Meethay Karelay’.

Farooq Qaiser served on the Board of Governors at the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, (Lok Virsa) in 2015. During his last days, he was working as an expert in PNCA, and looking after their puppetry programmes.