KARACHI: There was no issue of Dawn on December 26, 1961, owing to a public holiday on account of the birth anniversary of the Quaid-i-Azam. Reproduced below are a couple of letters related to the movie Ghalib that was released at the time:

“…[T]he film Ghalib has aroused such varied opinion. The film, to say the least, is truly enchanting, and as perfect a production as the Indian Mirza Ghalib for which the hero won the Indian President’s Award. It is perhaps, correct that a great deal of imagination has been interwoven with facts, but this, I am sure, could not be helped. What interest could the picture hold otherwise?

“Very few biographies have been written on Ghalib, and the few that we have are just simple statements of facts … Of his fabulous genius, we are in no position to say anything. He was a mind too intense for general understanding.

“The bare facts of his life and literary career would not be of any interest to the producer or the viewers.”

SAFIA SADULLAHKarachi

“I am quite surprised at the reasoning … (that) since one does not know of anything romantic or colourful in the life of Ghalib, or at least not much, one should have no objection if ‘a great deal of imagination [be] interwoven with facts’ only to make an interesting plot for the film. Well, nobody questions the right of fiction writers to spin out imaginary stories for films, but the question here is how far history in general and the biography of a national hero in particular can be distorted to suit the mercenary interests of film producers or the debased taste of filmgoers.

A. FATMA AZIZUL HASANHyderabad