Farooq Qaiser with his alter ego Uncle Sargam | Guddu Film Archive
Pakistan Television has produced countless gems over a period of time but not all of them were timeless. Characters such as Uncle Jedi, Qabacha and Hasnat Bhai inspired a generation but ultimately faded away with the passage of time. But one character never faded from memory Uncle Sargam, created by the legendary Farooq Qaiser, became a household name the moment the character debuted in 1976.
Those were the days when music director Sohail Rana used to do a weekly music show Saaray Dost Hamaray from Pakistan Television’s (PTV’s) Karachi centre. The kids who participated in the show addressed Sohail Rana as ‘uncle’, and used to sway sideways while singing. When Kaliyaan debuted in 1976, Uncle Sargam made sure the puppets performed in the same manner as the kids in the music show, and sang, ‘Aao mil ke gayein, aayen baayen shaayen, sur ka tiah paancha kar ke waapas ghar ko jayein’ [Come let us sing sing t
Aahat and
Tansen in the early 1990s.
The playwright was considered way ahead of her times because of the way she both entertained and educated the audience, all at the same time. Being an educationist was a part of her personality, but being a playwright was something she excelled at. Her heroines stood shoulder-to-shoulder to men, she was her own master who knew how to get the job done and mostly ended up in happily-ever-after endings (except for in
Uncle Urfi). Like Fatima Surayya Bajiya, every actress wanted to play her heroine; but unlike Bajiya, she leaned more towards comedy than serious issues.