I am genuinely worried about the state of affairs in the film industry, and am also very concentrated about the plight of the Thar people who faced the longest ever drought in history recently,” said Mustafa Qureshi, offering me a chair.

Dressed in white starched shalwar kameez, he was waiting for me and lit a cigarette before continuing: “Moin Akhtar invited me to attend PTV’s mela, organized some time ago in connection with a donation campaign launched by PTV to help the drought-stricken people of Thar and Kohistan.

I told him that I did not want publicity but he insisted that I come and I donated Rs 50,000 cash,” he disclosed.

Mustafa Qureshi feels that like his Indian counterparts, collective efforts by those associated with the film industry are needed for genuine causes. “I decided to take the first step in order to motivate my colleagues.

Except for film stars people from a cross section of society came forward and donated generously for the drought-affected people. During the floods in the 70s, Rangeela, Mohammad Ali and Zeba, Lala Sudhir, my wife Rubina and I collected I large amount for flood affecters.

Where there is a will, there is a way, but someone has to take the initiative,” says the experienced veteran.

He was quite critical of the role of certain NGOs which exploit such situations for their own vested interests thus shattering the confidence of the people.

Talk to Mustafa Qureshi and you fail to forget that he was once the most famous villain of Pakistani cinema. Hailing from the land of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Sehwan, he was born in 1935, and turned 65 this year.

He has been associated with films for the last 35 years. Having worked in radio Pakistan, Hyderabad, in the 60s he appeared in his first film, Lakon Mein Aik, as a Hindu villain living on the other side of the border.

It was a box-office hit. During this conversation he continued to light one cigarette after another. It seems he hasn’t read much articles on the hazards of chain smoking.

He hasn’t told us how he got into the film industry, so the next pertinent question is just that. “I had never thought of films as a career and wanted to join the armed forces.

When our soldiers were fighting the enemy, I was doing my bit in a Sindhi program Jaam-e-Jaam as a war propaganda in charge at radio Pakistan. Film star Saqi, who was a friend of mine, invited me to Lahore.

On his invitation I went there, where he introduced me to film director Raza Mir. That is how I came in the film world.”

Why was the film industry ailing? “I believe that the over all situation of the country during the last 52 years – frequent changes in government, joblessness, worsening law and order situation and price hike – has contributed a lot to the destruction of film industry.

We have a limited market for our pictures i.e. Sindh and Punjab. Rupees 8 to10 million are required for production of a normal movie and our investors are in no mood to risk their money given the prevalent economic conditions.

The cinema culture has vanished into thin air. Most of the cinema halls are being converted into business establishments or plazas. Gone are the days when there were 800 cinema houses – now the figure is not more than 300,” an eloquent Qureshi maintains.

His argument holds water as in Hyderabad alone no less than 10 cinemas have been converted into huge plazas, depriving the people of entertainment. Among existing ones hardly two or three are such where quality English and Urdu movies are being screened.

Keeping in mind the onslaught of cable system which is readily available and is also cheap ( at RS. 100 per month ) provides more than one dozen channels with all the required masala it has become an arduous task for film makers to produce quality movies and bring people to cinemas,” says the artist.

Mustafa Qureshi maintains that those who want to construct business centers in place of cinema houses must be bound down by the government to allocate some space for a cinema hall so that cinema culture could be kept alive.

He says that the present cinema owners should also pay attention to the cleanliness in their cinema houses to provide congenial atmosphere to people.

“The government itself has lost a major amount of revenue from the film industry in shape of different taxes. Film makers are copying Indian movies which have restricted their creativity.

Our industry lacks modern equipment, laboratories and sound technique that are why we fail to compete with Indians who have an easy time capturing the international market.

The Indians spend an amount of RS. 15 million to 20 million, utilizing modern technologies for producing a film. Although we have good camera-men, but without latest equipments they can’t do anything worthwhile,” he observes.

Mustafa Qureshi claims that production of good films can be a major source of income for the government if incentives are to be offered to investors so they can help make better movies.

According to him in India yearly 1.000 to 1.500 are being produced and screened for 40,000 cinemas each year, while here hardly 25 to 30 films are made and this figure would further go down if the state of economy continued to nosedive.

Which were the best movies? I quiz him. “Chan Varyam, Heer Ranjha and Maula Jatt. The last one was copied in India for three different movies.” Are there different government policies for film and PTV? “Yes, “says this eloquent man, “PTV can produce drama serials on Kashmir.

When it comes to film the censor laws are more strict and harsh. We even cannot name India and are supposed to call it Dushman. Whereas the Indians presented films like border, Hindustan Ki Qasam, and Pukar in which their actors have literally abused Pakistan. No doubt the issue of Kashmir is sensitive.

But it can be highlighted in a better way as a rejoinder to Indians movies so that history is not distorted,” he points out and condemns these Indian films, for it would spread hatred between the two nations.

What is he doing these days? “I am currently busy in my next ventures Beti, Sapney Apney Apney and Punjabi film Nooran”. But he says he has become selective and switched over to character roles after having appeared as villain for a long time, mostly against late sultan Rahi.

He has crossed the 450 mark in movies, the majority being Punjabi ones. Qureshi also sounded a bit disappointed.

“Old people are no longer there. Values and norms have gone and if the current state of affairs does not show any sign of improvement, then I will have to say Allah Hafiz to my beloved film world and serve humanity through different means, something I have been wanting to do for years,” he concludes.

The development of the whole human being right from the childhood to the full youth could be divided into four degrees, and this creation is wonder of the Creator God.

Human being is white or black but its spirit belongs to the same God. - Allah. The birth of the human being bears no stamp which marks shim a difference person from others.

The aptitude only differs due to family background and the circumstances in which he grows up. Ages change thoughts. The basic nourishing , growth, trend and inclination ascertains on which path a human being is moving which needs and effective check.

Developed countries way and trends of life have changed our culture and traditions. In Pakistan the irony of the matter is our juvenile thoughts change with that of governments which in my estimation is out-rightly wrong.

Mustafa Qureshi – man of deep observation due to his long lasting film career while elucidating his ideas about the down fall of the juvenile of Pakistan further opined.

“The adolescents are the precious nuggets of our great country Pakistan. We the seniors have to show a sense of responsibility by pragmatic efforts that the thinking of our youth should be stable and it must not change with the change of environments and circumstances. If this practice,

I mean the change of thoughts with that of government keep on changing we would never reach row of developed countries. This is why the duty of our writers intellectuals and the people from different school of thoughts to formulate a policy which should aim at error-free generations.

“Breeding of the Kalashnikov culture is rampant and is spreading like an epidemic in our society. This culture is gift of those people who are without moral values and sale fake degrees.

The filthy rich spoiled children pay heavy price for the counterfeit degrees. This practice is a clear victimization of the rights of the genuine hard worker students.

These youngsters by holding the fake degrees with the smoke-screen dignity and prestige feel proud to announce themselves as CSP officers and the bureaucrats of high ranks.

These are the people who with their knowledge next to nothing and wrong policies deepen the gap between the haves and have knots. So, the disappointed, frustrated juvenile being depressed is left with no choice to hold the arm of Kalashnikov mafia and getting lost into the dark world of evil and crime. “

Mustafa Qureshi with a deep sense of nationalism and with confidence said. “ I am proud of one thing. Our youth does have the strong sense of nationalism. This spirit of nationalism could be well judged from the factor that during the Cricket World Cup when Pakistan lost the game to India then many adolescents.

went of hunger strike and some of them went to the extent of suicide. Our youth is also labeled that the trend to use jeans and shirt does not behoove them. To me the youth is not to be blamed who did not bother to tell them what dress and address in fact means.

Responding to the blunt question that film industry has increased crime in the society. Qureshi said, “No it’s wrong. The crime was there even there were no movies. The basic root cause of the crime is not movies but: the politicians and bureaucrats”

Talking about the downfall of the people’s party. Qureshi said, “The undoing of Benazir Bhutto’s regime could be termed as self-destruction master planned due to the poor coordination of the great leader with that of jails.

I still love PPP and salute the great leader Benazir Bhutto. It is high time for the party to set its goal and do self-reformation. It is never too late. It is time to collect the lost leaders of PPP to bring party back to its manifesto which in fact for the manifesto of the downtrodden class.