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Though, never an
outstanding student, he traversed the road to success to acquire instant
fame. After years of hard work, he finally decided to try this hand in
directing and stepped into the realm of production. "I was forced to
direct a play by a friend and after that I started my own production
company," goes Talat.
Adding
another feather in his cap, this actor turned producer aimed at improving
the standard of production which has deteriorated and is certainly not
what it had been in 50's and 60's. Providing a reason for such an outcome
he said, "when you talk about quality of production, you refer to
technical facilities, content of a play, the role of a director and other
professionals like engineers, editors, lighting people and set designers.
If you expect quality from these things then you would have to analyse the
personalities of people involved which are determined by social, cultural
and intellectual environment. These very people have mediocre minds which
leads to weak conceptualisation. In this case, the execution of a
particular concept into reality would obviously be of low standard."
Drama
projects reality and is based on various aspects of life. It enhances the
insight into various problems and relationships. Illuminating the very
fact he said, "during our times, the ruling elite represented the
middle class and despite being very conservative in approach, they had a
very tolerant attitude and that came into play when the policies were
made. The whole scenario was changed when General Zia came into power in
70's and 80's. The policies became very orthodox during the Martial Law
and though now that orthodoxy is receding, people governing various
crucial matters are not very liberal. This very attitude restricted the
creative artist and his choices due to which everything is sliced and
divided into pigeon holes. It is very difficult to revert back to the era
of 60's where the quality of production is concerned and to some extent
the censor policies also have a role to play."
Talat
believes that people themselves are responsible for such harsh censor
policies. He says that the younger generation handling production is not
aware of their own cultural norms and traditions. They try to imitate what
they see on foreign channels which is not in total conformity with our
society and so obviously the censor becomes active. Stating his own
example he said, "I have directed and produced two serials of 13 and
11 episodes respectively. Out of these only two shots have been censored.
I always say that give me a boy and girl. I'll make them sit 10 feet apart
and shoot that scene in such a way that it will be censored. Then I'll
make them sit next to each other and the censor will not touch the
scene." He believes that the way a certain relationship is projected
decides whether it should be censored or not. The people exercising power
find normal behaviour offensive. "They belong to the rural set up and
their social environment is completely opposite to the urban
culture," he said, "we make plays based on urban lines which
they might find indecent and so people sitting in the parliament raise hue
and cry."
Apart
from the policies, rampant commercialism and lack of workaholic
professionals is also responsible for deteriorating quality of production.
Earning quick bucks is the ulterior motive of the fresh blood coming in
this field
"Our
whole society has become commercial now," he confided, "the set
designers are more concerned about money, actors about glamour and
directors about making a hit play and when you have to sell everything,
the norms and values take a back seat." Though, he thinks that his
generation worked with passion and the priorities of the young budding
actors are different. He feels that Yasir Akhtar, Nabeel and Shabbir Jan
have what it takes to be good actors placing Shabbir slightly above the
rest. "Shabbir has achieved that point where he can be recognised as
a mature actor where as the others are still in the making."
Talat
Hussain has worked in five western productions and found them well
organised technically competent and very committed to their work. He
thoroughly enjoyed working in them. "It was wonderful working with
professional actors," he expressed, reminiscing his experience in the
movie Jinnah "despite being so well known, they were very down to
earth. Unlike our directors, they respect the actors working for them and
do not take them for granted."
He
admits that there aren't any training grounds for aspiring directors,
actors and behind the scene technicians, but still he considers our dramas
much better than those of India. Denouncing those who compare both, he
vehemently expressed his views, "there are people who say that Indian
drama is better than ours. There isn't any comparison between the two.
Their genius is in music. If you look at drama as a genre, the way it
exists, it originated from Greece. If Indian drama had energy, vigour and
force, it would have over shadowed Greek drama. Indian drama does exist
but it is not their genius."
Being
one of the few well read performers, his priorities are to produce the
best possible serials. "I am not interested in any kind of
competition," he said while adding, "I don't want to surpass
anyone. I have always tried to produce a product with a 100 per cent
attention to make it the best." He refused to reveal any immediate
future plans but is thinking of making a film.
An
internationally acclaimed outstanding performer, he aspires to prove his
mettle in production as well and give something outstanding and different
to the viewers…
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