Written by: Muhammad Suhayb
Posted on: December 05, 2022 | 
| 中文
(L to R) Salman Shahid, Nazir Kamal, Imran Aslam, Sarwat Ali, Usman Peerzada (Picture credits to Usman Peerzada)
It was just before the Cricket World Cup 2015, that the famous comedy program, Banana News Network of Geo TV, lost one of its hosts to a better offer. Sitting steps away from Geo President Imran Aslam’s office, I could easily see the team going in and out of the spacious and gracious presidential office situated on the Mezzanine Floor in Jang Building. The members would have a long gaze at me, for reasons unknown by then. I thought of it as a ‘routine resemblance check’ as the BNN team were stationed on the 5th floor, where my twin brother Omair, worked at the Sports Desk. It was later revealed that Imran Sahab asked the producers to design a segment where ‘we’ twins could fight over cricket. For next three months, we would be seen mostly quarrelling on team selection, strategies and upcoming matches. No one but Imran Aslam could have come up with such an idea, where two journalists, who have never faced a camera before, were poles apart in personality and hugely famous for fighting at the drop of the hat, could be asked to do a comedy segment. Even today, I sometimes get surprise concessions from shop-keepers, fruit vendors, barbers and even cobblers who had seen me on TV. Like me, there have been hundreds of others who credit him with their successes, dozens who still could not believe that he won’t be around but none can replace him.
Imran Aslam
In my two decades of professional life, I have never seen or heard of any project where Imran Aslam failed; be it a script for a drama, a voice over, a person he selected for a certain job or a task he wanted to be done. He was editing newspapers from the days I could merely read, yet he was a role model for people of every age.
Born in Madras in 1952, Imran Aslam had his schooling in East Pakistan. He would come up with anecdotes about film star Shabnam’s initial troubles with Urdu, Mujibur Rehman driving Awami League Husseyn Suharwardy’ car or lyricist Akhtar Yusuf reciting his famous song ‘Bekal raat Bitai’ (sung by Ahmed Rushdi for film Eindhan) while entertaining at his family home. After relocating to West Pakistan in the late 60s, he joined Government College, Lahore and graduated from there. It is here he befriended Usman Peerzada and Salman Shahid, who later went on to become greats in the field of acting. ‘Tipu’ as he was called, left for the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) to finish his studies and ended up joining Abu Dhabi’s ruler as Director of Royal Flight after that.
Imran Aslam with his son Aryan Aslam and wife Fareshteh Geti Aslam
Just like flashbacks in a movie, a routine sitting with him always guaranteed a trip down memory lane. He was amongst the students who sold homemade biryani (spicy rice cooked with meat or chicken) outside the Edgbaston Ground, when Imran Khan was making his Test debut for Pakistan inside. ‘Sensing that Zaheer Abbas was going to score about 300, I thought of making a quick buck and had a ‘deg’ (huge cauldron of food) prepared overnight, and serve it to the desis (locals) who were coming over’, and in his jovial manner, during the same sitting, he disclosed that he was the one who fixed the meeting of his cousin Arif Abbasi, (MD Pakistan International Airlines), with the Abu Dhabi ruler for Emirates Airlines.
In the year 1982, Imran Aslam left the job in UAE and came over to Pakistan. He became the Editor of the Star, in the days of Zia-ul-Haq, when censorship was in full force. He changed the dynamics for evening newspapers with crisp and catchy headlines even in those days. He had to leave soon after President Zia-ul-Haq went for Hajj. Reason was Star’s headline ‘Haq off to Hajj’. One of his famous headlines was ‘Defence on the Run’; when residents of Karachi’s famous locality Defence were being shifted to someplace else due to the threat of flood.
Imran Aslam (sitting) with (L to R) Owais Tohid, Zarrar Khuhro, Muhammad Hanif
As creative as he was, he earned a living by writing advertising jingles, ‘Mujhay TUC TUC Ke Saath Chaye’ being the best. He also became the resident playwright for Goethe Institute’s Grips Theatre, where shows were directed by actor Yasmin Ismail. Khalid Anam, who was just making his mark in the industry, was in charge of the music while Imran took care of the play. Imran Aslam wrote over a dozen plays for children, mostly which had a covert political message. He translated Italian playwright Dario Fo’s political satires for stage in Urdu, ‘Lao tu Qatal Naama Mera’, being the favourite for those who have seen it. For PTV, he wrote serials like Khaleej, Dastakin 1986 and Bisaat in 2000. Bisaat was filmstar Nadeem’s debut on TV. Who can forget the evergreen Rozy, which was an adaptation of Tootsie, brilliantly played by Moin Akhtar. Directed by Sahira Kazmi, the play was written in no time but is still a favourite of many. He used his pen name Imran Saleem to write these dramas.
An excellent actor himself, he acted on the stage during the time he was not a journalist. However, he once teased me as to how much money he made with small cricket bats, carrying the signature of cricketers, who were in Pakistan for the World Cup 1987. I said a million, for which he laughed and revealed that most of the bats are still unsold. When inquired as to how he got the cricketers to sign them, he said it was the photographer who took snaps of their signatures from the register at the reception desk. Surely, he could not sell them, but the idea was itself unique.
It was with the launch of The News in 1990, that he was back in business and led a team that helped found the newspaper. His association with Jang remained till his last breath, which saw him launch GEO, a channel that changed the electronic media landscape in Pakistan. Always full of ideas, he was the brain behind ‘Agar Geo Hota’, a show that carried news of bygone eras in Geo’s style and the Sports Show ‘Matchbox’. He helped launch musical shows ‘Gaaye gi Duniya Geet Meray’ and paid tribute to Lollywood Classics with Tarang. He may have been the President, later Group President of GEO, but was unassuming. His office was always open for discussion, ideas and debate, be it movies, music, sports or international politics. He was amongst the few journalists who fought the Zia’s regime and braved General Musharraf’s emergency of 2007, but it never reflected from his behaviour.
Imran Aslam at Geo's launch party
He dogged the local khaki vardi but one anecdote landed him in trouble. While working as the Director of the Royal Flight of Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan‐Al‐ Nahyan, he met Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat on airport. Imran Aslam was his huge fan and asked him for an autograph, to which Arafat asked for the diary or a paper to sign on it, but Imran had none at hand. Imran Aslam got the signature on his passport and he had severe issues in applying for a Schengen Visa afterwards. He was last seen in full cry during the performance of Love Letters recitation in Pakistan and Dubai, in 2016/17. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2017, but he was back in action in 2018, as fresh as ever. It was the death of his younger brother Talat Aslam ‘Tito’ in May 2022, which completely broke him and six months later, news of Imran Aslam’s death rocked the media fraternity. His wit, impersonations of leaders and actors, creativity, passion for work and his smile will be missed.
(L to R) Imran Aslam, Ghazi Salahuddin, Talat Aslam and Shahrukh Hassan
If there ever was a person who could be a boss, a mentor and a friend, all at the same time, it was the multi-dimensional Imran Aslam.
As the famous poet Suroor Barabankvi said:
jin se mil kar zindagī se ishq ho jaa.e vo log
aap ne shāyad na dekhe hoñ magar aise bhī haiñ
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