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Qasim Jalali  PTV has lost many producers to private channels as they have either crossed over completely or started moonlighting in a big way. But perhaps, the only producer who still enjoys working for PTV, although he thinks there is no harm in venturing in private waters, is Qasim Jalali, the man behind many entertaining serials, including the historic Tipu Sultan. An MSC in Marine Biology from Karachi University, Jalali has enjoyed producing and even acting in plays since his student days.
"It was at the recommendation of a university professor that I joined PTV, initially to produce programmes on science, but on finding that PTV didn't have enough finances, I launched my career with documentaries and then turned towards dramas."
Jalali reminisces that those were days when PTV's level of professionalism was at its peak. Prospective producers had to go through proper training in Islamabad, and he himself was also sent to Germany to get additional training, following which he did a course in computer graphics. Today, however he rues:
"People with no training whatsoever have impressive designations, such as executive producer, attached to their names. One would like to know what qualifies them to be called so. No wonder quality is suffering today."
It is not surprising then that Qasim Jalali has a string of successes to his credit. His very first drama, Parosi produced in 1974, won a PTV award for the Best Long Play. Jalali's second play, starring Ghulam Mohyeddin, was on the subject of eye transplant and became so popular that it was aired a number of times at the request of eye societies.
Jalali's first serial Shama not only received rave reviews but was also instrumental in introducing actors that became assets to the mini screen - Javed Sheikh, Ghazala Kaifi and Anwer Iqbal to name a few. Recalls Jalali, "Nana ki jaan Qamru character became so popular that although in the novel, there is reference to it only once, we had to expand on the role and carry it through right till the end."
The success of his debut serial was only to be overshadowed by his second serial, the legendary and still talked of Khuda Ki Basti. One hit followed another, including productions like Aagahi, Aakhri Chataan, Tareeq aur Tamseel, Babar, Mohammad Bin Qasim and Tipu Sultan. Once Jalali turned towards historical plays, he became more interested in other topics as well and produced Uroosa, Asawari, Ba adab ba mulahiza hoshiar. Jalali proudly claims: "My plays have introduced many of the actors now found on the silver screen, including Babar Ali.
"It was a very tedious job producing Tipu Sultan as such a long, historical epic required careful study in order to reproduce the culture, environment and traditions accurately. For us to produce this mammoth serial was no easy task, for unlike India, we lack the infrastructure and the resources. While India already had a ready canvas in the shape of castles and original backdrops, our sets were replicas made after studying historical pictures.
We had no trained men on horseback, stuntmen or sword fighters and it took us one and a half years of working night and day to produce the entire serial. In spite of meagre financial resources - India spent 45 crores on their production and we spent only 86 lakhs, a formidable amount by Pakistani standards - we still managed to produce 20 impressive episodes, and were appreciated even by Zee TV and the Indian public," says Jalali.
He is of the opinion that the local version of Tipu Sultan has an edge over its Indian counterpart because it did not restrict itself to history alone, but has shown how history repeats itself, by relating the past events to the present. He also mentions that it was the one serial alone in which as many as 250 newcomers were auditioned, as no established artists could spare so much time for one play.
Jalali himself visited London museums and libraries to study the costumes of the period as well as the different opinions of various writers on the historical figure, so that he could reproduce his character as accurately as possible. One can detect the distinct note of pride in his voice when he admits, "Although I have made other historical plays, this one was far superior production-wise and in terms of the technology used."
A pioneering attempt of its kind, Jalali concedes that Tipu Sultan was a risky venture with such heavy investments and feels "the fact that it earned six and a half crores just goes to prove that people are interested in history if it is shown properly. Besides the more you invest in a serial sensibly, the more it will give back to you."
With innumerable individual plays including those produced for special occasions, not to mention shows, also to his credit, Qasim Jalali has found no time to pursue the field he qualified in - science.
"Once I began to concentrate on the arts, I had to start reading up on literature, novels and history and had no time for anything else. But I do apply my scientific knowledge to my work also. In the past, I've produced a successful serial on science Waqt ka asmaan dealing with many scientific subjects, including human-interest issues related to medical science - a programme that was instrumental in creating a lot of awareness amongst the audiences.
I also produced Kaali dheemak, a programme on AIDS and another on hereditary diseases and produced plays dealing with environmental problems, which were by no means easy to script."
Having produced plays on a vast variety of subjects, Jalali has probably left few issues untouched since the start of his career, but hasn't called it a day.
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