MUZAFFAR Ali is a critically acclaimed Indian film-maker. His film Umrao Jaan, a cinematic interpretation of Mirza Hadi Ruswa’s novel released in 1981, gained the status of an iconic period drama, earning him countless admirers all around the world. He is also the creator of many TV series and documentaries, mainly based on the lives and works of poets and Sufis. Recently, Muzaffar Ali was in Karachi. Peerzada Salman sat down with him for an interview. The first question sought to elicit his comments on the distinguished actor Saeed Jaffrey, who passed away on Nov 16, and with whom Muzaffar Ali had worked in one of his films. The director was not aware of the actor’s death. He took some time to process the news.

Excerpts follow:

Q: Your comments on Saeed Jaffrey sahib.

A: He was open to new things. He had a different fragrance (khushbu) altogether. He had command of the Urdu language. Jaffrey played the role of a thakur in my film Aagaman very well.

Q: Anupam Kher was also in that film.

A: Yes, I introduced him [to Bollywood] in Aagaman.

Q: What’s your take on Kher’s stance on the award-returnees and his support for the Modi government?

A: He likes to move with the times.

Q: Is it important for an artist to move with times?

A: If he doesn’t do that, then time will not move with him.

Q: Do you think that the wave of extremism that has enveloped India is here to stay?

A: I don’t think so. These things come and go. The Indian people do not approve of extremism. There are balancing forces in the country. We have a strong democracy which rejects extremism. Besides, I’m a Sufi. [He does not believe in taking extreme positions anyway.]

Q: Your latest film, Jaanisaar, hasn’t done well at the box office. Why?

A: It was released earlier than it should have been, and pushed in between other releases. It doesn’t matter to me whether a project fares well at the box office. What matters is that a film has to somehow reach people. These days it has become very easy to do that. There are avenues like the internet. The idea is to enable as many people to see the movie as possible.

Q: Was there an element of miscasting? Imran Abbas, for example…

A: Not at all. Imran, on the contrary, did very well in Jaanisaar. He is a good actor.

Q: You have undertaken many projects but none seems to have overshadowed Umrao Jaan.

A: There was a murassa [bejewelled, well-crafted] thought process behind it. The film has the sensibility of that era, 19th-century Oudh, with all its intensity. The language used in the script and its cinematic treatment match the ambience of that period. One has to understand that only those things reach the audience truthfully which have their roots in the soil.

Q: You have worked with the poet Shehryar a lot. In Gaman and Urmao Jaan, for example…

A: I attach great importance to poetry. Poetry is the mother art. It is in poets’ works that we get to know about time’s cruelties and the pain that people experience or endure. It is very important that a poet’s freedom is not compromised.

When I started appreciating the Urdu language, it was Faiz Ahmed Faiz who inspired me the most. Actually when I showed him my film Gaman, he was full of praise for it. I still remember the words that he used, saying ‘it’s poetry in visuals, a veritable tour de force’.

Q: You have used the phrase ‘when I started appreciating Urdu’. But you come from Lucknow.

A: Lucknow mein Urdu ka mahol hawa mein hai.

Q: This brings me to an interesting point. There’s an intellectual debate in Pakistan, raging on for the past many years, about Urdu’s decadent state. Some suggest the Urdu language has died a premature death. Where do you stand on the issue?

A: If you are alive, then Urdu is alive. How can beauty die?

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2015