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By: Sheraz Haidar
Ashfaq Ahmed wrote and directed Urdu film "Dhoop Aur Sa-yae" in 1968. The cast included Attiya Sharaf, Ejaz, Qavi and Taufaiq. Muhammad Afzal is credited for composing music for "Dhoop Aur Sa-yae". However some individuals believe that it was Tufail Niazi who did music for this film. The film was released on March 22, 1968 but did not run for more than three days in Lahore. After the failure of his film, Ashfaq Ahmed never turned to cinema.
In a interview to Pakistan Television Corporation in 1992, Ashfaq Ahmed, while answering a question to
Mustansar Hussain Tarar, said that �not the individual characters but dialogue responds to dialogue in Urdu
films� but he wanted to create a film where human
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Born in village Muksar in Ferozepur in India, migrated to Pakistan at partition, completed his Masters in Urdu literature from the Government College Lahore and delivered lectures in Italy and France on Urdu literature. His best known Radio programme was "Talqeen Shah" which was broadcasted more than 30 years. "Ek Mohabbat So Afsaney" was a super hit TV seriel by Ashfaq Ahmad.
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beings talk to each other in local idiom, in a language which was spoken in streets and houses, in a
tone which was real and not artificial so he brought out "Dhoop Aur Sa-yae".
Ashfaq sahib admitted in this interview that the film was very weak in technical aspects owing to lack of
finances. He mentioned that the camera that they used for film was old and faulty to the extent that they
used to tighten a chord around it to make it stable. It took the producer Rs. 70,000 in 1968 to produce
this film.
Ashfaq Sahib used to say that "Dhoop Aur Sa-yae" was produced ahead of the times. But he believed that it was his film that inspired the emergence of parallel cinema in India.
After the failure of "Dhoop Aur Sa-yae", Ashfaq Ahmed concentrated on writing fiction, and drama for
television and radio. He ruled over mini screen for three decades. Mustansar Hussain Tarar, the eminent
Urdu novelist says, Pakistan Television will find it difficult to find a playwright matching Ashfaq�s
genius. Undoubtedly, his intellectually enriching dramas of 1970s, 80s heavily compensated Pakistanis
for the absence of a parallel cinema in Pakistan.
The film is not available in Rainbow Center, Karachi, Hall Road, Lahore and Imperial Market, Rawalpindi. It
may be available with some individual collector.
Ashfaq Ahmed - the renowned short story writer, playwright, broadcaster and intellectual - died on
September 7, 2004 in Lahore. He was 80 years old.
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