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Ghazal Siddiq
 Actor, compere and morning show host on a local channel, Ghazal Siddiq claims that since she has taken on her role as a host, she has stopped watching movies. She explains, “I have to keep early nights on weekdays in order to be up early in the morning for my programme. It’s only over the weekends that I get a chance to stay up and watch movies at night. But, I don’t like to watch films alone. So, only if I have company do I see a film occasionally. By and large, the movies I see these days are cartoons, which I see with my son.”
Ghazal says that there was a time when she used to watch Indian art movies regularly, but now only gets to see them in passing, if her husband, who is fond of watching movies, is seeing them at home. She recalls in particular an Indian art film called Rudhali starring Dimple Kapadia, which she liked a lot. Throwing light on the film’s storyline she says, “It’s about female professional mourners whose services are hired at the death of someone important.”
Among the other art movies, Ghazal says she was impressed by are Shaym Benegal’s Mandi featuring Shabana Azmi, and Kamla. Her favourite actor, though, is Aamir Khan whose performance she particularly enjoyed in Lagaan. Praising his acting skills she adds, “He puts in a lot of effort in every character he portrays.”
In marked contrast to the limited time Ghazal manages to take out for movies is her fixation with music all through the day. She enthuses, “It’s like music has been injected in my blood – I just love it and can’t do without it. I’ve been exposed to music since childhood, for both my parents and my siblings are also into it. And luckily, my in-laws, husband and son are also as fond of listening to music as I am. My son has been playing the keyboard since he was two-and-a-half years old and is taking classes in music. I want him to learn all that I wanted to but couldn’t. I feel he should have all options available to him so that he can then choose his career accordingly.”
 When asked what kind of music she particularly enjoys, Ghazal replies simply, “All kinds, as long as it has rhythm. Be they Spanish songs, or Italian or Arabic, I happily listen to them. Whenever I travel abroad I make it a point to buy CDs of the music of the country I am visiting, regardless of whether I understand it or not. In fact, my shopping is not complete without it. And if I am not travelling, but know of a friend who is visiting a place I haven’t been to, I always ask them to get me the CD.”
Ghazal says that over the years she has built quite a collection of CDs and possesses many classics, including the works of world renowned composers such as Beethoven. Among her favourite genres of music, Ghazal includes pop, ghazal and semi-classical. She says “I can’t understand pure classical music but I can appreciate sur.” Ghazal doesn’t only appreciate music, she also sings and has crooned Roothay ho tum for a music programme. She also admits that she likes to sing in front of friends and family whenever they have informal bethaks.
Ranking Ustad Fateh Ali and Abida Parveen among her favourite singers, Ghazal says she is also very fond of Madame Noor Jehan’s Punjabi numbers. However, that is not to say she doesn’t have favourites among Western singers, for she enjoys Rickey Martin a lot.
Says she “As long as the singer is melodious, I can hear songs sleeping, waking, whether in the car, kitchen or bathroom. My house resounds with music all the time for either my son is busy practising on an instrument, or my husband is listening to some CD or the other. In fact, I listen to music even in silence, for songs hum in my ears all the time.”
Books and Ghazal, however, don’t go together and she admits frankly that she is not fond of reading, particularly thick books. She says, “I prefer to get my knowledge from audio-visual aids rather than from reading. I can only read books on subjects that I am very interested in – like religion – and enjoy books on religious role models.”
As a matter of fact, Ghazal says she has never been fond of reading – not even in school days – and used to read then only because she had too. She adds, “Even then I would retain more what I would pick up from the teacher’s lecture than from reading. I feel our school textbooks have to be made more interesting for children to develop an interest in reading.”
 The only material Ghazal reads regularly is magazines and she says she likes to read social issues covered in them. As for newspapers, she doesn’t like to read them at all, and prefers to hear the news on TV instead. Occasionally, when she can get her hands on the works of Faiz sahib, she likes to go through them and says that although she doesn’t understand all his verses, she enjoys them nonetheless. She particularly enjoys the ones that have been rendered to music such as Hum dekhain gay and Bol kay lab azaad hain and says she likes the fact that there is hope in his poetry.
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