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Lounge Loves By Sahar Iqbal
MauSummer-ise with Huma this summer!
It’s not just a Lipstick…it’s my Color Riche Color Riche feels amazing the first time you put it on and every time you apply it. Color Riche is truly a pleasure for the senses. The smooth creaminess and suave sensuality is more than just a sensation. It brings out the woman’s alluring femininity while radiating beauty and confidence.
Dealing with the tailors can be a nightmare. The brand we have trusted for more than a decade MauSummery by Huma brings to us their ‘PURE Prêt Collection’. T h e fabrics, in addition to the signature MauSummery lawn, also include chiffons and woven materials with detailed embroideries and intricate borders, complimented with a variety of embellishments done stylishly. Available in 4 sizes; extra small, small, medium and large, this year the collection also comes in longer silhouettes, embroidered backs with a focus on designs on the printed panels and features rounded hemlines, collared shirts and cuffed sleeves. It is now available at their Flagship Store on MM Alam Road in Gulberg Lahore.
‘Gifted’- express your feelings with passion! ‘Gifted’ is a source for premium made-to-order handmade gift baskets in Pakistan, to suit any occasion, mood, theme and celebration! It stands for the true and unique concept of giving gift baskets to loved ones, as an expression of love, comfort, friendship and fun. Long gone when it was fine to present run-of-the-mill gifts are the days ones and get over and done with the task. to loved Instead, Gifted believes in bringing joy in a basket. T h e y create custom-made gift baskets and a complete basket-case. They have a variety of collections for different events: MakeCelebrate friendship! Mom-Happy baskets, Love-Is-In-the-Air Anytime is a good time to have fun and celebrate baskets, Bride-to-Be baskets, friendship! With the recently launched ‘Dosti Ke Birthday Baskets, Tying-theRung’ campaign courtesy Glow by Warid, exciting Knot baskets, Everlastingactivities are coming your way where you can experience Love-For-Him baskets, ‘Augmented Reality’ for the first time in Pakistan with Special-Gourmet baskets, your friends at colleges and malls in Karachi, Lahore Breakfast and Teatime and Islamabad. Keep a lookout for this Glow activity baskets, Spa Baskets and being conducted in the month of April where you enter lots more– for the first a visual reality transporting you on video to wherever time in Pakistan! You you want! In fact, take dancing tips from the new Dosti can view them online Ke Rung video now being aired on all major television at www.facebook.com/ networks and can be found online at www.youtube. giftedbaskets. com/GlowByWarid.
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Humaima Malick:
‘After the screening in London, I participated in a Q&A session along with Abhishek Bachan. The session had an audience of almost 500 people. They loved the talk which focused on acting. There was another screening in Manchester. I felt very proud, since veterans such as Naseeruddin Shah, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Javed Akhtar appreciated the film.’
No turning back from the silver screen! By Saman Asif
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W
e cannot talk about Humaima Malick without mentioning ‘Bol’. Humaima was already a renowned figure in the fashion and TV industry but with ‘Bol’, she became an international film star. Acting for a completely non-glamour role in the very first movie and that too for a Pakistani audience is something that requires a lot of courage. But Humaima took this project as a challenge and played her role in the most convincing manner. Winning accolades of praise for her performance from not only Pakistani but international audience, the actress recently received the award for best actress in none other than the Asian Film Festival that added yet another feather in her cap. Talking about her latest achievement, Humaima said, ‘Bol was nominated in seven different categories in Asian
‘I walk the ramp to support the designers but can never work as a model. The backstage chaos is something that I cannot handle. I have been given the award for best head-turner at the fashion week but in spite of that my interest in modeling is limited to being a show-stopper only.’ Film Festival, including best film, best direction, best production, best story, best dialogue, best actress and best emerging talent (male). For the best actress award, the nominees included renowned names such as Freida Pinto and Shilpa Shetty among others. We won awards for best film, best actress and new talent.’ Humaima felt that the Asian Film Awards were not about winning for her. It was just about being able to represent Pakistan internationally. Clad in a very traditional pishwaas designed by Zainab Sajid at the award ceremony, Humaima said that winning the best actor award was a fabulous moment for her. Recalling the experience Humaima said, ‘Pakistani cinema was represented at the festival with screening of Bol. After the screening in London, I participated in a Q&A session along with Abhishek Bachan. The session had an audience of almost 500 people. They loved the talk which focused on acting. There was another screening in Manchester. I felt very proud, since veterans such as Naseeruddin Shah, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Javed Akhtar appreciated the film.’ When asked about her future endeavours, Humaima
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‘Bol was nominated in seven different categories in Asian Film Festival. For the best actress award, the nominees included renowned names such as Freida Pinto and Shilpa Shetty among others. We won awards for best film, best actress and new talent.’ 36 I April 29 - May 05, 2012
that she is going to surprise her audience very soon. At the moment she not allowed to divulge anything about her up coming project but it will surely prove to be good news for her fans. When asked that will this up coming project be a film or TV venture, Humaima said, ‘Once you do a film, you can’t do TV. And it may sound cliché, but the fact is that the silver screen has its own charm and everything else seems less interesting. Therefore my next project is definitely a film.’ Now let’s talk about Humaima’s experience in modeling. Last two to three weeks saw a war of fashion weeks in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, all happening almost at the same time. Humaima was the show-stopper in Lahore for Nickie Nina and for Zainab Sajid in Karachi. Talking about her experience with modeling, Humaima revealed, ‘I walk the ramp to support the designers but can never work as a model. The backstage chaos is something that I cannot handle. I have been given the award for best head-turner at the fashion week but in spite of that my interest in modeling is limited to being a show-stopper only.’ From modeling to acting and most importantly representing Pakistan internationally, looks like there is no stopping for this versatile artist. Let’s hope that she further climbs the ladder of success in the coming years and keeps on entertaining the audience.
‘Once you do a film, you can’t do TV. And it may sound cliché, but the fact is that the silver screen has its own charm and everything else seems less interesting. Therefore my next project is definitely a film.’ April 29 - May 05, 2012 I 37
Art
Repertoire of a master on display
Oil, water colour and woodcut – Mahboob Ali displays his whole range in a solo exhibition By Javeria Mirza
M
ahboob Ali is a veteran artist, who chose to specialize in the arduous and demanding woodcut print medium, dedicating it four decades plus of his life. And the genre is supremely richer for it. Mahboob in fact was one of the pioneers in the medium, indeed the first one to do his thesis in it in 1969. “Woodcut is a 5,000 year old technique. I have been working in the woodcut medium for the last 41 years. After completing my class assignment in woodcut, this medium fascinated me so much that I also did my final thesis in it. This was the first time that anyone in Pakistan did his or her thesis in this medium. “This medium is difficult and laborious and it tests one’s patience. I do carving and printing by hand, without using any machine. And I have improved upon the quality of my work constantly by adding to the number of colours used in each print – taking them up to 52 in one print. “And one of my most significant pieces of work is a woodcut dressed up in 100 colours”, says Mahboob Ali, adding that he worked on it with stoic devotion for a year and three months. “For the uninitiated, in our country the woodcut prints were taught and done
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in just one colour. I not only introduced variety but took it to 52 colours. That opened up new possibilities and popularized this medium in Pakistan. By now this medium has become my identity. For this reason, I am known as the only woodcut artist in Pakistan”, says Mahboob Ali with a measure of pride and self-satisfaction that stems from a sense of fulfillment that recognition and public acclaim brings. But his latest exhibition, his twentysecond solo (in addition to scores of group displays in Pakistan and abroad) that was inaugurated by renowned architect and art aficionado Nayyar Ali Dada at Nairang Galleries on April 13, shows that while he may have left his own indelible imprint on woodcut, his range and dexterity in oil and water colour painting has not suffered as a consequence. The exhibition included his labour of love, painting the old city of Lahore, of which Mahboob is a very proud native, for three years and a bit between 2007 and 2011. And one must concede by the quality and feel of his work, that these were years very well spent. The vibrancy, the colours, the play of light and shade, the favourite pastimes of some (like kite-flying and rearing homing pigeons) of many denizens of old Lahore has fascinated many painters, making them draw and paint it all with not just sublime skill but also the same passion that a Lahorite
usually exudes. The result has been a feast of visual delight. Not unlike some of them, Mahboob Ali has spent his early, impressionable years playing hide and seek and other games that children play, in the lanes and alleys of old Lahore. Through his paintings he not only displays his sublime skillset as a painter but also his intimate familiarity with the subject and his tremendous love and devotion for it. “I was born and brought up here. The architecture, the streets, the environment, the dramatic effect of the changing light has been a tremendous source of inspiration for me. To my mind, Lahore is a city of peace and culture. And you would find it reflected through pigeons and kites, in my paintings of its gates and streets”, says the artist. At various times the artist has indeed made an endeavour to capture the dramatic effect of changing light as a metaphor of hope and despair. This collection on display also includes work in water colour. He completed these during a visit to London, where he saw plants blooming lushly in yellow, inspiring him to paint. The upshot is several pieces of breathtakingly stunning work of art. The writer has done her Master’s in Fine Arts from the College of Art and Design, the University of Punjab.
To my mind, Lahore is a city of peace and culture. And you would find it reflected through pigeons and kites, in my paintings of its gates and streets April 29 - May 05, 2012 I 39
Books
Three for the connoisseur By Syed Afsar Sajid
Verse, literary criticism and matters spiritual add up to a delightful read for the discerning
Lafz Khurduray Tanvir Sipra Publisher: Sanjh, Lahore Pages 176; Price Rs250/-
Hikayat-e-Rumi Isharay Mian Mehbub (Compiler) Author: Dr. Salim Agha Qazilbash Gohar Publications, Lahore Naqshgar, Rawalpindi Pages 304; Price not mentioned Pages 160; Price Rs250/-
Lafz Khurduray A martyr to abject penury, Tanvir Sipra was an ordinary wage earner committed to the Muse. His ‘hard’ poetic diction demonstrates not only his artistic attainment but also his serious concern for the weal and woe of the proletariat --- the poor working class of which he himself was an eponymous but humble member. His distinguished literary clan from
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Jhelum includes celebrities like Gulzar, Jogi Jhelumi, Zamir Jafri, Iqbal Kausar, Yusuf Hasan and Naseer Kavi, to name a few. The instant book is a reprint --- the first edition was published in its author’s lifetime in the 1980’s. The book carries a preface by Malik Anwarul Haq, Advocate, an old cass-fellow of Tanvir Sipra’s eldest son Shakil Ahmad who
Three books that are being reviewed here have lately appeared in close succession on subjects as varied as poetry, criticism and spirituality is a patient of paralysis. Excerpts from comments of writers like Ahmad Nadim Qasmi, Farigh Bukhari, Zamir Jafri, Fehmida Riaz, Tariq Aziz, Shaheen Mufti, Shaista Habib and Manzur Arif are meant to facilitate the reader to perceive and appreciate the finer shades of Sipra’s poetics. They consensually agree that he is a poet of genuine character and sensations. Bemoaning tears, wistful yearnings, spilt blood, and contemning hatred (born of an acute class consciousness) as well as a deep concern for human values, are writ large on the pages of this book. The poet’s ‘rough words’, in effect, ironically loud-speak his aversion to the vainglorious conventions of the bourgeoisie way of life. In the consuming din of the workaday existence, his voice seems to recount the and deprivation and misery of the vulgus who are appallingly ignored in a capitalistic social set-up: Overtime kar kay maey nay seth ki jholi to bhar di/Par bachon ki farmaish ko aainda par tala hai. The poet does not take up a propagandist’s stance in his verse; in fact he has coalesced his dream of life into the stark ground realities that would pre-empt its fulfilment. Here are a few examples: A’eenay ki surat hain mri zaat kay do rukh/Jaan, mahv-efaghan hai to ghazal gaaey mra jism. Mairi yahi pahchan hai dunya-e-adab may/Mazdoor hun mazdoor ka mandoob hua hun Maey is aas pay dukh kay parbat sar karnay main sargardan hun/Us janib ka manzar mumkin hai mairi aashaon jaisa ho Lehja na daikh baat ka mafhum bhi samajh/Sun lay zara thaher kay sada-e-karakht ko But Sipra’s ghazal is not devoid of optimism either because he also seems to nurse the hope that spring cannot be ‘far behind’: Kah rahi hain sarhadon pay jhoomti mahtabiyan/Aa rahi hai mairay ghar may palki khursheed ki Jin kay shikam may sirf ujalay hi pal sakain/Ya Rab naey bashar ko woh mahtab ma’ain dain Isharay Dr. Salim Agha Qazilbash is a noted literary artist in the line of his illustrious father Dr. Wazir Agha. This book is a collection of his critical essays on literary writers, books and matters.
The writer has attempted to analyze the contemporary literary scenario of Urdu in the context of some representative work in the domains of poetry, fiction and inshaiya. His style is racy but lucid. Some important writers whose person or creative work constitutes the book are Joginder Pal, Dr. Anwar Sadeed, Akbar Hamidi, Shafi Hamdam, Daud Tahir, Ghulam-us-Saqlain Naqvi, Rashid Amjad, Mansha Yad, Muhammad Saeed Sheikh, Ghulam Jilani Asghar and Mushtaq Ahmad. And finally, the book is likely to afford a good read to the ordinary reader keen to understand the mechanics of literature besides pleasing the connoisseur who is always after novelty, innovation and surprise, too. Hikayat-e-Rumi Maulana Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-73) was a highly celebrated Persian Muslim poet, jurist, theologian and Sufi mystic. He was an ‘evolutionary’ thinker as ‘he believed that the spirit after devolution from the divine Ego undergoes an evolutionary process by which it comes nearer and nearer to the same divine Ego. All matter in the universe obeys this law and this movement is due to an inbuilt urge (which Rumi calls “love”) to evolve and seek enjoinment with the divinity from which it has emerged.’ His poetry is often divided into the quatrains (rubaiyat) and odes (ghazal) of the Divan, the six books of the Masnaviwhereas his prose works includeThe Discourses, The Letters, and the Seven Sermons. In Masnavi, Maulana Rumi elaborates the universal message of love: ‘Love is the astrolabe of God’s mysteries.’ The general theme of his thought is the concept of Tawhid. ’ The Masnavi weaves fables, scenes from everyday life, Qur’anic revelation and exegesis, and metaphysics into a vast and intricate tapestry.’ It is a six-volume poem containing some 27000 lines of Persian poetry. The present book carries a select collection (110) of Sufi stories and ethical and mystical teachings, from the Masnavi, under various heads, permeated with Qur’anic meanings and references besides prefatory remarks by Mian Mehbub, the compiler, Hafeez Gauhar, Syed Bilal Gilani and Abdul Qadeer Yaas. It will inspire both the novice reader and the devoted enthusiast to undertake an inward spiritual voyage for catharsis and enlightenment like its remote prototypeThe Essential Rumi by Prof. Coleman Barks (1995).
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