KARACHI, Sept 13: The death of comedian Lehri saddened his fans as well as members of the artist fraternity.

Commenting on his death, Anwar Maqsood said: “I used to meet him a lot when he would be properly dressed and all prim and proper. When he fell sick, I couldn’t bear the sight. He was a tremendous artist. I don’t think he ever used any writer’s script. He would say his own lines which would elicit laughter. And he did all of that in a civilised manner. I’m reminded of a couplet here:

Aaj ik aur sitara toota Aik insaan se peechha chhoota (One more star lost its way One more human passed away)

Actor Behroz Sabzwari said: “I was one of those fortunate ones who worked with him in a theatre play titled ‘Lehri in trouble’. It was 1980. Lehri sahib did the central role in that drama, and apart from me the actors who took part in it were Latif Kapadia, Zeenat Yasmeen and Salma Zafar. We did a lot of shows, including one in Dubai. Lehri sahib wrote the script for it, along with Usman Maimon, and did a wonderful job as an actor as well. As for his films, I’ve seen all of them. I don’t think there has been anyone in Pakistan who could utter a spontaneous punch-line as Lehri sahib did. To boot, he always kept a certain standard of comedy in mind and never wavered from it.”

Music composer and actor Arshad Mahmood said: “I befriended him through our common friend the late Latif Kapadia. Both of them used to be together, cracking jokes and narrating interesting stories all the time. Lehri sahib was a cultured man and a good artist. No one had the comic timing that he had. He would make the simplest and harmless of sentences sound humorous.

Also, he was very versatile: He could play the character of a servant and in the very next scene he could be seen as a father or the hero’s friend and would fit in without any hassle.”

Actress Zeba Bakhtiar said: “He did only three scenes in my film Babu. He was very unwell those days. His humor was subtle, there’s no one like him. We don’t have the appreciation of that kind of humor any longer. That era of artists such as Lehri sahib had passed away with them.”

TV producer Kazim Pasha said: “In the ‘70s Lehri sahib and I were neighbours in Karachi. He was in Lahore those days because of work, but his family lived in Karachi. So if he was in the city, we’d often meet. He was a strange man. He could make people laugh without contorting his face or resorting to slapstick.

“Let me tell you one more thing about him. He was an extremely generous person. I still remember that one day I went to a studio to see him. There must have been around 100 people there. Lehri sahib bought qulfis for each one of the men and women.

“Sadly, he was hurt by the kind of treatment meted out to him in Pakistan when he got bedridden. He used to say that he’d given his blood and sweat to this country and yet he was suffering in the twilight of his career.”