Written by: Haroon Shuaib
Posted on: September 23, 2022 | 
| 中文
Rahat Kazmi and Sahira Kazmi
He was tall, dark and handsome, a leading man on the television screen with an intense voice and a distinguished demeanor. His exceptional voice modulation and the charm he exuded with his powerful gaze were unmatchable. While Sahira was disarmingly beautiful with a strength that came naturally to her as a modern independent woman. She was on the television screen essaying roles that she made her own with exceptional acting talent. Her creative eagerness soon made her realize that her true calling was behind the camera as a director. Rahat and Sahira Kazmi were the first power couple of Pakistan Television.
Rahat Kazmi was born in Simla in 1946. His father was a lawyer and after completing his initial schooling in Rawalpindi, Rahat followed his father’s footsteps and earned a law degree. He had an insatiable hunger for knowledge and went on to earn two Master’s degrees – one in political science from Government College, Lahore, and the other in English Literature from Punjab University. The well-versed and well-read man then joined the coveted civil service.
Sahira and Rahat with their children Nida and Ali Kazmi
Sahira had an unconventional childhood. Her father was a cinema idol, Sunder Shyam Chadha, famous for his extraordinary good looks in the Bombay film industry till tragedy struck in 1951. During a film shoot, he fell from a horse and lost his life at an early age of just 31. Shyam’s wife Mumtaz Qureshi, better known as Taji, was also an aspiring film actress. Together they had two children: daughter Sahira born in 1950, and son Shakir, born two months after Shyam’s untimely death. Taji with her young children migrated to Karachi along with her elder sister, Zeb Qureshi, who was also an actor. In Lahore, Taji remarried a Pakistani entrepreneur with the surname Ansari. Sahira and her brother changed their surnames and became Sahira Ansari and Shakir Ansari.
Sahira Kazmi in young age
In November 1964, the first official television station of Pakistan commenced transmission broadcasts from Lahore, followed by Dhaka in 1965, then the capital of East Pakistan. A third center was established in Rawalpindi in 1965. Rahat, who was in Rawalpindi at the time, started his career on television in 1967, with a show for youth called ‘Mayaar’. After that, he did some individual plays for television such as ‘Gonge’ and ‘Koltar’. Sahira and Rahat’s first serial that made them a household name overnight was 1974’s ‘Qurbatain aur Faslay’, an adaptation of the Russian novel, ‘Father and Sons’ by Ivan Turgenev.
In 1974, they decided to tie the knot and the on-screen couple became husband and wife in real life too. Rahat and Sahira’s chemistry mesmerized audiences again in the 1976 serial ‘Parchaiyan’. ‘Parchaiyan’ was an adaptation of the English novel ‘Portrait of a Lady’ by Henry James. Haseena Moin dramatized the novel, whereas Rahat Kazmi, Sahira Kazmi, Talat Hussain, Shakeel, and Javaid Sheikh had prominent roles in it.
From left to right_ Khalida Riasat, Sahira Kazmi, Uzma Gilani and Roohi Bano
By now, Rahat was deeply involved in acting and decided to leave civil service and start acting full time. Rahat also did about 15 films between 1976 to 1982 and was reasonably successful on the silver screen as well. His films such as ‘Aaj aur Kal’, ‘Mehman’ and ‘Muthi Bhar Chawal’ with leading ladies Shabnam, Babra Shareef, and Sangeeta went on to run for weeks. Rahat soon realized that temperamentally he was not cut out for films, and the loud and exaggerated acting required for the big screen. He decided to stick to television as his medium of choice. Perhaps Sahira and Rahat’s most memorable television serial together was ‘Teesra Kinara’, televised in the late 70s. ‘Teesra Kinara’ was based on the Russian-American Ayn Rand’s famous novel ‘Fountainhead’. Starring Rahat Kazmi, Usman Peerzada, Sahira Kazmi and Saba Hameed, it was dramatized by Rahat Kazmi himself and directed by the supremely talented director, Shahzad Khalil. ‘Teesra Kinara’ is also remembered for its theme song ‘Kabhi Hum Khobsorat Thay’ in the angelic voice of Nayyara Noor. The best scenes of this play are where both these fine actors do not utter a single dialogue, but convey powerful emotions just through their facial expressions.
Waheed Murad, Mrs. Nadeem and Sahira Kazmi
In 1983, Rahat and Sahira appeared in a beautiful long play ‘Anjanay Main’, written by Bano Qudsia and directed by another television giant Mohammad Nisar Hussain. Rahat plays a blind man and Sahira had an interesting character with lots of inner conflicts. Both these complex characters were essayed so well that it can be considered a perfect showcase for their acting prowess.
Soon after, Sahira decided to stop acting and started working as a director. She directed her husband on screen in many plays. In the early 1980s ‘Ehsaas’ was a drama serial directed by Shahzad Khalil in which Rahat and Marina Khan were the leads. Sahira brought them together in 1985 for a Hasina Moeen script, and the romance of Dr. Ahmar and Dr. Zoya was immortalized in Pakistan television’s history in ‘Dhoop Kinaray. Rahat’s restrained and under-toned portrayal of a man, who despite his tough pretense has a soft vulnerable side due to his deprived childhood, portrays a protagonist with multiple layers. It is no wonder that this drama continues to mesmerize its viewers across the globe, almost four decades after its release.
Rahat and Sahira Kazmi in Dhoop Kinaray
It is difficult to judge if Sahira is more gifted as an actor or a director, but she definitely set the pace in both. The sensitivity she brought to her directorial ventures was as superb as her acting. As a director, she chose scripts for serials such as ‘Tapish’, ‘Khaleej’, ‘Aahat’, ‘Nijat’, and ‘Zaib-un-Nisa’ that had a lot of political and social overtones. She can also be credited for introducing the concept of Official Soundtracks (OSTs) in television serials. She used Faiz’s poetry ‘Bol Ke Lab Azaad Hain Tere’ ‘for ‘Tapish’, at a time when the poet was banned under General Zia-ul-Haq’s rule. Later in an interview, Sahira recalled how the first episode had already gone on air before the powers-that-be realized that the poetry was by the out of favor poet. It was too late by then, so they let the full serial go on-air. Sahira is also credited for starting the trend of unconventional and groundbreaking music videos for television that contributed a great deal to boosting the careers of singers such as Alamgir, Nayyara Noor, Tina Sani, Shehki and the sibling duo Nazia and Zohaib. The video she directed for ‘Hum chalay tou hamary sung sung nazaray chalay’, a song by Alamgir, where he is seen driving around in an open-top sports car, and Shehki and Allan Faqir’s ‘Humma Humma Kar Bhaiyya’, were groundbreaking and created a space for the modern popular music scene in Pakistan. Sahira was always ahead of her time, whether as an actor or as a director of television dramas and music videos. She always did it before anyone else, and she did it well.
Sahira Kazmi, Mehdi Hassan Khan, Noor Jehan and Rahat Kazmi
After a few more memorable serials and individual plays, Sahira and Rahat gradually stopped working for television. Sahira took a back seat spending more time with her children Nida and Ali, and grandchildren. Rahat took up teaching and theatre and was also associated with the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA). In their illustrious careers, this talented first ever power couple of television in Pakistan, have set benchmarks of excellence that continue to inspire the coming generations.
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