Eastern film studios in the sixties and the very early seventies were a place to visit. With two large floors and huge open spaces, it pulsated with filmmaking activities. The Karachi studios when it when into operations in the late fifties boasted of modern equipment, but with the passage of time and financial losses the cameras, lenses, lights and recording equipment could not be updated. However, in the mid-sixties it could boast of several hits that were made on its floors, the most notable being the country’s first platinum jubilee movie Armaan, starring the delectable pair of those years, Zeba and Waheed Murad. But the numbers of films made in a year were not enough to turn the studio into profit-making venture. By the mid-sixties, Nayyar Sultana, Shamim Ara, Mohammad Ali, Lehri, Zeba and Deeba had shifted to Lahore, but the ones who came to the limelight later and remained in Karachi for

Coming back to eastern film studios, the one thing which lingers in my memory were the evenings Waheed Murad, director Pervez Malik, writer Masroor Anwar and, every so often, composer Sohail Rana used to spent on the lawns and talk endlessly about films and film craft. I was an occasional participant too. Waheed was very fond of music, a subject which was often discussed, that was when we weren’t discussing English literature.

In the afternoons when there was no shooting schedule Waheed and his colleagues used to play rummy, but the stakes were not too high. That was the only ‘vice’ that was permitted in the premises of Eastern Studios. Alcohol, even in those non-prohibition days, was a no-no, and so was promiscuous behavior. The proverbial director’s couch wasn’t there. Once they caught a starlet and an assistant director locked in an embrace behind the bushes in the backyard of the studios. The assistant director tried to explain that he was only rehearsing a scene for their under-production film but no one was convinced. They were banned from entering the studios and the ban was lifted when they tied the nuptial
Knot. That was not the only love marriage to take place then. One remembers Rozina having a love affair with sound recordist Rafat Qureshi. He took her to the altar.

Rozina’s rivival was Tarannum. The two starlets couldn’t stand each other. Once Tarannum got a ghost writer to do a piece on her behalf in Eastern film. The scribe used a lot of flowery language. A jealous Rozina rang up Tarannum and said, “Article to achcha tha, kis se likhwaya tha?” quick on the uptake, Tarranum reported, “usi se jis se tumne parhwaya tha.”

Tarannum got married and disappeared from the scene, while Rozina continued. She got a couple of good breaks, including Ishara, which Waheed Murad directed, and shared the romantic lead with her (that was Talat Husain’s debut making movie), but somehow she couldn’t make it to the top. Before Ishara, Waheed made Ehsan which was directed by Pervez Malik. An elaborate set was erected at eastern film studios, and the entire unit was waiting for leading lady, Zeba to arrive.

Instead of her reaching Karachi, the news of her marriage to Waheed’s arch-revival Mohammad Ali reached the studios. The two were obviously not on the best of terms. Zeba, instead of honoring her commitment, probably went on a honeymoon. That meant dismantling of the set and a big financial loss to film arts, Waheed Murad’s banner.

Waheed on being told of Zeba’s marriage blurted out, “not again! She is turning into an Elizabeth Taylor,” he said, after a pause.

A few hours later when I peeped into film Arts’ office, I found Waheed engaged in a game of rummy. “Is this how you tackle your problems?” I said, since I was expecting him to be gloomy.

“Look, I believe in one thing, if rape is inevitable relax and enjoy,” he replied.

Years later, it is said, when Waheed was in a bad shape, Zeba and Mohammad Ali helped him a lot.

An Eastern films studio was also the venue of the first multi-starrier, Ladla in Pakistan. It featured two pairs, Sabiha and Santosh, Waheed and Shabnam. Also sharing the marquee with them was Talish. But the film unfortunately could not do well at the box-office, perhaps because the man who directed the movie was not cut out for the job.

Now the question: why did the film industry in Karachi not establish itself, particularly when both finance and talent went from Karachi to Lahore? To begin with, Eastern film studios was the only regular film studio in Karachi, so the artistes, when they came to Karachi, were cut off from their other assignments in Lahore. It was like going on for location shooting, on the one hand, and on the other Lahore with its four studios and many more productions offered greener pastures to Karachi artistes.

The other reason for Karachi’s industry not being able to take off was that the management of eastern film studios believed in fair dealings, which has not been a very usual practice in our film industry.

Last month, I learnt that young TV director Mehreen Jabbar is toying with the idea of making a documentary on Eastern film studios. There are some old techniques who can gave her some facts, if not figures, and among the people she has access to be her father, Javed Jabbar, who produced the country’s only English language feature film beyond The Last Mountain. It was produced in Eastern film studios. Let’s see how Miss Jabbar handles the subject. For her father and some others it will be a trip down memory lane.

(By Asif Noorani)