Archive Forensics: Eastern Film (October 1971): "A Cinema in Denial"
by Khajistan Cultural Desk
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Archive Forensics: Part of an Ongoing Series
In Archive Forensics, we pull one magazine out of Khajistan's digitized archive and read it closely. This week: the October 1971 issue of Eastern Film, published out of Karachi by Eastern Film Studios Ltd.
Look at the date. Bangladesh had already declared independence, but Pakistan had not yet surrendered in Dhaka. The country was splitting in two in real time, and this magazine chose to say almost nothing directly about the war. It did, however, record the collapse through the problems of Pakistan’s film industry and the logistical threats to its own print life at the time.
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Archival Fact Sheet for this Issue
Production Metadata
| Magazine | Eastern Film |
| Issue | October 1971, Vol. XIII, No. II-III (Double issue) |
| Published from | B-16, S.I.T.E., Manghopir Road, Karachi-16 |
| Telephone | 291388 and 291389 |
| Publisher | Khuda Bukhsh Baloch for Eastern Film Studios Ltd. |
| Printer | Yaqoob Ali V. Kasmi for Zain Packaging Industries, S.I.T.E., Karachi |
| Acting Editor | W. A. Zaidi |
| Staff Photographer | Saghir Naqvi |
| Lahore Correspondent | Salahuddin Nasik |
Retail & Circulation
| West Pakistan | Rs. 1.50 |
| East Pakistan | Rs. 1.50 (Airmail freight: Rs. 0.25) |
| Foreign | Rs. 1.60 |
| Business Representatives | Listed in Lahore and Dacca |
Film Blockages
| Films awaiting release | About 30 |
| Circuit affected | Punjab-Frontier |
| Announced dates dropped | More than 70 percent of announced films |
| Reason cited | No show houses left after the old system came back when the capacity tax was lifted |
| Lahore studio condition | A few shoots running; more than 30 films done and waiting, many already through the censor |
East Wing Show Business Migration to West Pakistan
| East Wing studios | Reported as suspended |
| Mirza Shahi | Arrived in Lahore from East Pakistan with family |
| Jaleel Afghani | Arrived from the East Wing |
| Reshman | Expected to move permanently to Lahore |
| Ehtesham | Got himself a house in Gulberg; "no intention to go back" |
Censorship
| Publicity banners seized | More than 50 |
| Film seized for vulgarity | Bima |
| Cinemas facing cases | Seven prominent cinemas (Police jurisdiction: Naulakha) |
| Censor materials sent to | Central Board of Film Censors |
| Reader protest | Ban on Riaz Shahid's Aman |
| Indian film named as propaganda | Bangla Desh |
Festival & Export Failure
| Official Entry at Moscow | Heer Ranjha |
| Problem | No English version or subtitles |
| Deadline issue | Print was due in Moscow by the second week of May; the government told producers on May 21 |
| Delegation included | Ejaz Durrani, Firdous, Masud Pervez, Riaz Gul, and a senior government official |
Trade & Celebrity Data
| Mohammad Ali | Height: 6 feet; Address: Gulberg, Lahore. |
| Nadeem | Height: 5 feet 10 inches. Under production: Saemi, Angarey, Mohabbat Aur Mahnga Saal, Mili Key Putley. |
| Rangeela | Height: 5 feet 4 inches. |
| Shabnam | Address: 225/I-Q, Block 2, PECHS, Karachi. |
| Sangeeta | Matriculation, first division; reads books and magazines nonstop. |
| Shamim Ara | Highest-paid actress in Pakistan. |
| Noor Jehan | Over 1,000 songs credited. Standard song fee: Rs. 2,500 (3.25 mins). Long song fee: Rs. 5,000. Coming up: Angarey, Inaam Aur Gadha, Peendu, Majhey Da Sher. |
| Mehdi Hasan | Over 100 songs credited. |
| Film Stock | Yangtze River black-and-white 35mm/16mm (Negative, positive, sound recording). Agent: Progressive Traders. |
| Consumer Goods | Consul socks (Narayanganj), Sohni Cold Epilatory Wax (Karachi), Max Factor Satin Flow, Colwool knitwear. |
Shabnam on the October 1971 cover, shot in color by Saghir Naqvi. The cover sells her as a national star. Inside, she is "this beauty from East Pakistan" who made it by coming to Karachi and Lahore.
The Missing Issues
The magazine printing got some hiccups. You learn this from its own readers. Samar Hyder of Karachi writes in to ask why Eastern Film keeps vanishing from bookstalls. He wants the paper out on time. He also wants better printing, especially the color pages.
The editors blame the newsprint shortage. The country is short on paper, and the film press is running on fumes. The same forum carries complaints about censorship and the "national image."
Reader's Forum page on missing issues, the newsprint shortage, and reader complaints.
Monthly News
The "News of the Month" pages jump around without blinking. Actress Tarana is "now free," acquitted in court. Yasmin Shaukat debuts as a playback singer. Mansoor Hydari is planning a film about Rashid Minhas, the pilot officer the state had just turned into a martyr. Agfa-Gevaert is at the Olympiad. Mehdi Hasan leaves for Umra. Indian composer Jaikishan has died.
Courts, war memory, music, religion, foreign news. All on one page, all in the same flat voice. Nothing is allowed to feel like a crisis.
The "News of the Month" page reports the Moscow festival failure, Tarana's acquittal, Yasmin Shaukat's playback debut, and Mansoor Hydari's planned film on Rashid Minhas.
East Wing Studios Stop
Here the war finally shows up, dressed as industry news.
In "Lahore Calling," Salahuddin Nasik reports that comedian Mirza Shahi has arrived from East Pakistan with his family. He plans to stay about four months, maybe forever. The reason gets one sentence: work in the East Wing studios is suspended, so he had nowhere else to go.
Then the list grows. Character actor Jaleel Afghani has arrived from the East Wing. Reshman is expected to settle in Lahore for good. Producer-director Ehtesham has bought a house in Gulberg and has "no intention to go back."
People are fleeing a war zone. The magazine writes it up like a casting note.
This page reports East Wing artists arriving in Lahore, films waiting for release, censor action against cinema banners, and Defence Day plans tied to the 1965 war.
Shabnam in Karachi and Lahore
The cover story is where the issue gives itself away.
It opens with "Shabnam" and calls her "a charmingly simple artiste." The first line pins down where she is from: "This beauty from East Pakistan is a graceful lady." The next line says she was unknown before she came to the film centers of Karachi and Lahore.
That is the deal in plain sight. She is from East Pakistan. But fame only exists in the West. National visibility lives in Karachi and Lahore.
The first page sells her through looks and hustle. "Ravishing and gazelled eyes." One of the busiest heroines around. Her big break came with Akhri Station. She keeps climbing, keeps improving, keeps believing in herself. The photos show her in a decorated room beside a big vase, then in white, looking straight into the lens. The page sells beauty, but the text keeps circling back to work.
The second page takes us home with her. A cloudy afternoon, a nicely decorated drawing room, little ornaments that the writer reads as proof of good taste from Shabnam and her husband Robin Ghosh. Both love music. Robin makes his living from it.
The visit is staged and a little awkward. Shabnam asks the crew to wait half an hour. They wait. Tea is served in the next room. Then, "formalities over," she poses. The room is hot. The writer admits to feeling suffocated. Robin promises air conditioning "in a day or two." A decorated room, sweating its guests, still being upgraded. Hard to find a better image for the whole industry.
Then comes the part that matters. The writer says Shabnam struggled with Urdu at first but now speaks it "near-perfect." Her East Pakistani origin is allowed into the story. Her arrival as a professional is measured in Urdu.
Remember the background. East Pakistan spoke Bengali. The state built its official culture around Urdu, and the fight over language had fueled Bengali resistance for decades. Here is that same pecking order, printed as a fan magazine compliment. Shabnam can enter the Urdu film economy. The door is open. There are conditions.
She pushes back too, quietly. The article says she felt "handicapped by the stereo-type roles" and is still waiting for "a challenging role." She wants newness, not the same tired formula on repeat. They are selling her as a national star while she tells them the roles are thin.
On page 17 she goes further. Pakistani films have improved, she says, but there is still a long way to go. She tells the interviewer it is his job to figure out what audiences want from how they have reacted before. Viewers, she says, do not swallow a formula just because it worked once. They judge every movie "on its own merits." Good ingredients are not enough. The parts have to fit together.
The profile then hurries back to safer ground: her popularity, her warmth toward colleagues, her wish to sit among ordinary cinemagoers and watch them enjoy her on screen. Cinemagoers, she says, are the best judges. They want one thing: a sincere attempt at good entertainment.
The Shabnam profile introduces her as "this beauty from East Pakistan" and says she became known after coming to Karachi and Lahore.
Shabnam's early difficulty with Urdu and her later "near-perfect Urdu." It also records her frustration with stereotyped roles.
Shabnam talks about audience taste and the limits of fixed formulas. Viewers, she says, judge each film "on its own merits."
The War It Can Remember
This issue knows exactly how to write about war. Just not the one happening.
For 1965 it has a whole working vocabulary: soldiers, widows, sacrifice, national songs, enemy, morale, inheritance. The Pakistan Film Journalists Guild plans a Defence Day event on September 23 at WAPDA Auditorium in Lahore, with General Bakhtiar Rana as chief guest. About 25 widows of the fallen and more than 50 disabled soldiers of the 1965 war are to be honored.
Naseem Begum's death folds into that same memory. She died in Lahore on September 29 after a brief illness. Studios closed in respect. Born in Bombay, she came to Pakistan young and made her name in film singing, with about 300 songs to her credit, including "Ae Rahe Haq Ke Shaheedo."
A tribute to Mehdi Hasan and Noor Jehan reaches back to September 1965, when the "coward enemy" came with "nefarious designs." It praises the national songs that lifted morale and promises they will pass from father to son.
Noor Jehan's war songs were already national property by then. The film press repeats the script: singers as soldiers of the state, film culture as morale work.
And 1971? It leaks in sideways. Suspended East Wing studios. Artists arriving as refugees. An Indian film called Bangla Desh. A banned Pakistani film about Kashmir. The old war gets ceremonies. The new war gets footnotes.
M. A. Parwana's reform essay appears beside the obituary of Naseem Begum. Film reform and 1965 war memory share the page.
The tribute recalls the 1965 war through national songs, morale, and inheritance. Mehdi Hasan and Noor Jehan appear as patriotic voices.
Noor Jehan's Fee
Noor Jehan appears twice in this issue: once as the voice of the nation, once as a worker with a rate card. Under "High wages," the magazine reports her standard fee of Rs. 2,500 for a song of three and a quarter minutes. Anything longer now costs Rs. 5,000. Patriotism is priceless. Songs are not.
Moscow Without Subtitles
This is the most humiliating story in the issue, and the magazine knows it.
The editorial opens by saying the Moscow festival proved, again, that the industry needs real and prompt help from the government. Almost 70 countries showed up. Festivals are where a country sells its films abroad: foreign markets, export money, recognition for its artists.
Pakistan's official entry was Heer Ranjha. The delegation was stacked: actor-producer Ejaz Durrani, actress Firdous, director Masud Pervez, Riaz Gul, and a senior government official. The film was never screened. Nobody brought an English version. Nobody brought subtitles.
It gets worse. The print was supposed to reach Moscow by the second week of May. The government first told the Film Producers Association on May 21. The deadline was already dead before anyone in the industry heard about it. The magazine says the delegation seemed clueless about the festival's rules.
Ejaz Durrani came home to Lahore and held a press conference. He blamed poor planning between the government and the industry, and pointed at the Ministries of Information and Foreign Affairs for sitting on the formalities.
The magazine backs his demand that film journalists join future delegations, arguing they know the job better than most of the people who get sent. It also uses a telling phrase for how delegations and entries get picked: an "invisible hand." No names. Just the method: influence, selection, access controlled by the state.
Ejaz says one more thing. If Pakistani films are supposed to compete abroad, the censor code has to loosen. His words: "without indulging in vulgarity, there was no harm if kissing was allowed in Pakistani films."
Add it up. The state could pick a film. It could fly out a delegation. It could not deliver one print, with subtitles, on time. That is the whole machine in one anecdote.
Ceylon and Color
A note on names: in 1971 the country was still Ceylon. It became Sri Lanka in 1972.
A three-member delegation came back from Ceylon: Noor Jehan, Shamim Ara, and Waheed Murad. Noor Jehan led, and the welcome was warm. At a farewell dinner she sang "Lal Shahbaz Qalandar," with Shamim Ara and Waheed Murad joining in.
The complaint from Ceylon was not about quality. Audiences and officials liked the films. The problem was simple and technical: the films were not in color. The world had moved on. Pakistan was still shipping black and white.
The Ceylon report praises the welcome given to Noor Jehan, Shamim Ara, and Waheed Murad, then notes that Pakistani films lost ground abroad for lack of color.
Thirty Films Waiting
"Lahore Calling" reports about 30 films stuck with nowhere to screen across the whole Punjab-Frontier circuit.
The magazine traces it to tax policy. Under the capacity tax, rerunning old films barely paid, so exhibitors wanted new ones. Then the tax was lifted, the old system returned, old films flooded back into cinemas, and new films stopped moving.
Producers and distributors panicked. Money stopped circulating, so shoots slowed. Release dates had been announced, but the magazine says more than 70 percent of those films will have to be dropped.
Another item on the same page is blunt: "Lahore studios present deserted look." A few shoots in progress. More than 30 finished films, many already cleared by the censor, sitting in cans. The films exist. The screens do not.
Parwana's Thirteen Points
M. A. Parwana's essay "How To Improve Films?" starts by naming the disease: formula. Pakistani cinema is stuck on "boy-meets-girl" and the "eternal love triangle."
He lists the stock parts like items on a shelf. A superhuman hero. A charming heroine. A villain or vamp who is "wickedness personified." Rich parents blocking a poor heroine. Poor parents blocking a rich hero. A pile of coincidences, then a wedding.
His fix is a thirteen-point program. A Film Finance Corporation to lend producers money at fair rates. A Film Academy to train technicians, actors, and directors. A Film Development Corporation to build proper studios in two or three major cities in both wings of the country.
That corporation would also build cinemas, make and show quality films, push exports, import foreign trade journals, and secure raw materials and equipment. He wants a uniform censor code, reform of the capacity tax, a limited import of good foreign films, government awards, penalties for plagiarism, foreign exchange for delegations, fewer black-and-white films, more Technicolor Urdu films, exchange of stars and directors between the two wings, and real pay for story writers.
He ends where most reform talk should start. Story, he writes, is "the nucleus of success of a film."
A pencil sketch by Akbar Jamal appears before Parwana's reform essay. The caption reads "An artiste's view."
Actors Want Other Roles
Shabnam is not the only one stuck in a box.
In "Something Common But....", Salahuddin Nasik profiles Razia and Ali Ejaz. Razia ground it out for ten years before breaking into Urdu and Punjabi films. She became known for comedy. She does not want comedy. She calls her early acceptance of comic parts a "blunder" and wants serious, tragic roles. She has more than 40 films in hand, and the profile claims 95 percent of her shots are done in one take.
Ali Ejaz came up through stage and television. He wanted serious roles too. Producers kept sending him back to comedy. The article says the two of them share "a crave for serious and tragic roles" and cannot get out of the parts the market has decided they are.
The whole industry, top to bottom, is asking for better material. The industry keeps saying no.
Salahuddin Nasik's profile presents Razia as a performer known for comedy but hungry for serious and tragic roles. The page claims 95 percent of her shots were done in the first take.
Razia and Ali Ejaz, framed as actors boxed in by market expectations. Both wanted serious roles. Producers kept handing them the same types.
Kemal Among Crowds
A two-page color spread presents Kemal under the headline "Loves Crowds of Simple People." He is everywhere: actor, then hero, then producer, writer, director, and possibly, soon, journalist.
His image is built on access. Fame and money have not changed him, the article insists. He loves the crowds around him. He does not dodge strangers. In the studio he plans his next move. Outside it he is with relatives, friends, fans.
He also loves the press and is not shy about it. He mixes with journalists and remembers them at openings, premieres, and birthdays. The photos show him with family, with a child, holding a camera, sitting for a portrait. Color transparencies by Saghir Naqvi. A star who works his own publicity, captured by the magazine that benefits.
The Kemal feature presents him as actor, hero, producer, writer, director, and possible future journalist. He loves crowds, does not avoid strangers, and stays close to the press.
Yasmeen Khan's Ambitions
Her feature is titled "Strange combination of new ambitions and old ones." It starts with dance. Dancing was her first love. She trained under choreographer Hameed Chaudhry, and dance became "a way of life" until film made her drop it.
She wanted to be a great artiste and was waiting for "a wonderful role" to prove it. Her first Pashto film, Yusuf Khan-Sher Bano, "clicked with the public." By this issue she has 8 to 10 films to her name and leading roles in Ibrahim Nafees's Dil Waley and Nazeer Husain's color film Jahan Barf Girti Hai. She credits much of her rise to Nazeer Hussain, who gave her a lead. The last line hands the profile its title: new ambitions have replaced the old ones.
Yasmeen Khan's profile starts with dance as her first love, then follows her into film. It names Yusuf Khan-Sher Bano, Dil Waley, and Jahan Barf Girti Hai.
Karachi Productions
Releases were blocked. Production rolled on anyway. The Karachi pages read like a ledger of films, studios, sets, and names.
"Karachi Spotlight" shows the studio economy still moving. Jahan Barf Girti Hai built a Murree street on the Eastern Studios floor while other productions moved through Shahid Productions, Golden Movies, and the Karachi studio circuit.
Jahan Barf Girti Hai
At Eastern Studios, director-cameraman Nazeer Husain took the biggest floor for Jahan Barf Girti Hai, a color film under the Vision Pictures banner. They built a whole Murree street indoors: a motel, an old cloth shop, a hairdresser's, the works. The scene needed snow. The magazine notes it may have used the most lights ever rigged for a shoot there. Badar Muneer and Yasmeen Khan led a cast that included Hanif, Shabaz, Sikandar, Fareeda Anjum, Hasan Pasha, Shahnaz Durrani, Nirala, Chakori, Fazal Mahmood, Afzal Sethi, Gringo, Lado, and Nighat Sultana. Music by Lal Mohd. Iqbal. Lyrics by Kaif Rizvani, Masroor Anwar, and Shabi Farooqi.
Tum Sa Nahin Dekha
Directed by Yusuf Nasr for Shahid Productions, pairing Nazim with Sangeeta. The cast included Kamal Irani, Moin Akhtar, and newcomer Nazia. Songs by Younus Humdam and Amir Ahmad. Saeed Rizvi behind the camera.
Boy Friend
Produced by Robert Malik, directed by Jameel Mirza for Golden Movies. Kemal with Rozina, plus Mahmood Ali, Zahoor, Azad, Santosh Russell, and Charlie. Story by Danish Dervi, music by Zafar-Victor, lyrics by Kaif Rizvani.
Shahar Aur Saaey
Zia Sarhady directing a color production for Galosyl Motion Pictures, starring Ghazala Rafiq and newcomer Aftab Manghi. Music by Deboo. The unit planned location work in Iran.
Chalti Ka Naam Gadi
Iqbal Mufti directing a full-length comedy with Tarrannum, Iqbal Yusuf, Nirala, Faizi, Sikandar, Fomi Minwala, Aneela Nafees, Fareeda Anjum, and Saqi. Lyrics by Himayat Ali Shair, music by Deboo, photography by G. M. Surti.
Mithra Shaal Millan and Badal
Sindhi cinema was on the slate too: A. H. Siddiqi's Mithra Shaal Millan, his first Sindhi film, and G. H. Siddiqi's Badal. Mithra Shaal Millan featured Mushtaq Changezi and Ishrat, with Qurban Jeelani, Kiran, Malik, Anokha, Kamran Bhatti, Chakori, and dancers Guddo, Nishi, and Shaheen.
Dil Waley, Ham Ney Jeena Seekh Liya, Dil Bhi Tera Ham Bhi Terey
Ibrahim Nafees wrapped his first week directing Dil Waley, with Badar Muneer and Yasmeen Khan in the lead. Agha Nazeer Kavish directed Ham Ney Jeena Seekh Liya, including a fight between Badar Muneer and Rashid. Tahir Bhakir's Dil Bhi Tera Ham Bhi Terey starred Aaliya, Shakir, Tarana, Sultan Rahi, and Moin Akhtar, with music by Nazaar Shelley. Runa Laila cut a song for it at Modern Studios.
This Karachi page records color films, Sindhi cinema, action films, and location work. Shahar Aur Saaey planned shooting in Iran, while Mithra Shaal Millan and Dil Waley show regional and action production still active.
Lahore Productions
The Lahore pages stack up prestige dramas, historical romances, Punjabi color films, and casts the size of small villages.
The "Lahore Spotlight" page brings together Tehzeeb, Saemi, Parchain, and other productions. Lahore stays busy while the magazine reports blocked release circuits elsewhere.
Tehzeeb
Directed and co-produced by Hasan Tariq for producer Safdar Masood, written by Ibrahim Jalees with dialogue by Agha Hassan Imtisal. The magazine calls it a satire on badly copied Western manners. The cast: Rani, Aaliya, Zahid Khan, Aslam Pervez, Nasira, Tamanna, Shahid, Rangeela, Lehry, and Sabiha.
Saemi
Adapted from Hameeda Jabeen's novel, directed by Fareed Ahmad. Shamim Ara opposite Nadeem, whose moustache gets its own mention. Songs and dialogue by Masroor Anwar and Naqi Mustafa. Music by Nashad.
Tansen
Presented by Ejaz and Masood, directed by Masud Pervez, starring Ejaz with Shabnam. One song by Mehdi Hasan. Music by Khursheed Anwar, lyrics by Qateel Shafai.
Parchain
Directed by Luqman, produced by Luqman and Jawed. A major courtroom scene was in the can. The cast included Zeba, Mohammad Ali, Kamal Irani, Munawwar Saeed, Nazir Zingham, Mustafa Qureshi, Irshad Ali, Roshan, Zeenat, Naggo, Najma Niaz, and Nadia. Script by Dr. Anwer Sajjad.
Aan Jawanan Di and Angaray
Aan Jawanan Di, a Punjabi color film, opened with Santosh Kumar performing the ceremony, Darpan directing. The cast: Mohammad Ali, Waheed Murad, Firdous, Aaliya, Rangeela, Talish, Qavi, Nayyar Sultana, Meena Chowdhry, and Darpan himself. Angaray, produced by Aslam Chowdhry and directed by Fareed Ahmad, was nearly done. Dialogue by Nagi Mustafa, music by A. Hamid, Nadeem with Shamim Ara.
Punnu Di Sassi, Puttar Panj Daryawan Da, Khoon Da Badla Khoon
Punjab Pictures launched Punnu Di Sassi, pairing Ejaz and Sangeeta under Masud Pervez, music by A. Hamid. On Akbar Rizvi's Puttar Panj Daryawan Da, Sudhir fainted from exhaustion trying to finish his schedule before flying to Bangkok. And in M. J. Rana's Khoon Da Badla Khoon, a fight scene used two real dogs, owned by actors Iqbal Hasan and Yusuf Khan. The dogs got billing. The war did not.
The Lahore production pages move into Punjabi color cinema and spectacle, including the Khoon Da Badla Khoon fight sequence with two real dogs owned by Yusuf Khan and Iqbal Hasan.
Production Photographs
Pages 32 and 33 are pure industry theater: cameras, opening ceremonies, directors pointing, sets mid-build.
Kemal appears "with new ideas" producing Tasveer Aur Gadha. The caption jokes that the "gadha" might be missing from the frame, but Rozina and Nisho are there. Pervez Malik directs Shabnam on location for Aap Dekha Ley Chaho. Ibrahim Nafees "throws light on some point" for Tanveer and Arsheleh on Dil Waley.
Another photo shows the opening of the color movie Rikshawala with Attaullah Shah Hashmi as chief guest, alongside Agha Akhtar, producer M. A. Yazdani, director Akbar Banglori, Nazim, and singer Rajab Ali. Iqbal Mirza launches Pukar, with poet Ahsan Danish, Nadeem Qasmi, and Jamal in frame. S. A. Bukhari looks through the camera on Puttar Panj Daryawan Da. A caption from the set of Angarey names Majeed Karim of Agfa, Pervez Malik, producer Aslam Chowdhry, Javed, and director Fareed Ahmad.
The production photograph pages show opening ceremonies, directors instructing actors, camera work, outdoor shooting, and sets for films including Tasveer Aur Gadha, Dil Waley, Rikshawala, Pukar, Puttar Panj Daryawan Da, and Angarey.
Information Desk, October 1971
The "Information Desk" is fan service as raw data: heights, home addresses, real names, education, hobbies, song counts, film lists, trade agreements, release territories. Star worship, filed like government records.
Iran and Turkey: Pakistani films do not release there. No trade agreement. Though Jane Bond 008 Operation Karachi had just come out in Pakistan as a Pakistan-Iran co-production.
Reshma: The desk admits it knows nothing about her education or permanent address. Write to her care of Broadcasting House, Radio Pakistan, Karachi.
The Information Desk gives celebrity facts as reader service: heights, addresses, real names, education, hobbies, song counts, under-production films, and trade information about Iran and Turkey.
Robbery, Accident, Rescue
Two news items show life crashing through the glamour.
Razia survived a home robbery. The intruders tied her with rope, gagged her with a handkerchief, then sat down at her dining table, drank coffee, and ate roast chicken. They took her jewelry and drove off in her car, taking her chauffeur and another servant with them. The suspects were later caught in Azad Kashmir.
Then Tret, on the road between Murree and Rawalpindi. A bus slipped off the road and fell into a ravine. Mohammad Ali, Zeba, and writer-director Riaz Shahid stopped and helped police pull out the injured. Mohammad Ali tore into the crowd for standing and staring instead of moving the wounded. His line is brutal: "I saw human bodies bathed in blood and we cannot sleep tonight."
Bima, Aman, and Bangla Desh
Now watch the state at work, in three items.
One: Naulakha police seize more than 50 "obscene and semi-nude banners" advertising the film Bima from cinemas and public places. Cases are filed against seven prominent cinemas. The material goes to the Central Board of Film Censors.
Two: in the Reader's Forum, Waqar Ahmad Khan of Multan protests the ban on Riaz Shahid's Aman, a film about the Kashmiri struggle. Shahid's earlier films, Zerqa and Gharnata, had made the country proud, he argues. Why crush his patriotism now?
Three: the same letter turns to India, which has made a film called Bangla Desh. He calls it an insult to Pakistan. His logic is a counterpunch: India makes Bangla Desh, so Pakistan should release Aman.
Meanwhile the state's only visible film policy is cutting, banning, and seizing.
Film Stock, Socks, Wax
The ads tell their own story about who was selling what to whom.
Page 2 is a full-page trade ad for Yangtze River Chinese Cinematographic Films: black-and-white 35mm and 16mm cine-film, negative, positive, and sound recording stock. Sole agent: Progressive Traders, Karachi. The industry's raw material, imported from China, in black and white, in 1971.
Advertisement for Yangtze River black-and-white cine-film stock.
Max Factor pushes Satin Flow cleansing lotion under "The Today Look," warning women that makeup left on too long enlarges pores and that scrubbing it off breeds wrinkles. Fear, then the cure, in one paragraph.
Consul sells 100 percent nylon men's socks with the line "Come Consul With Me..." The agency address sits in Missionpara, Narayanganj, East Pakistan. An East Wing address, still printed in a West Wing magazine, while the country comes apart.
The Max Factor Satin Flow advertisement sells cleansing lotion through the language of pores, wrinkles, and modern makeup removal.
Sohni Cold Epilatory Wax, made by Beauticia in Karachi, opens by asking women if "superfluous hair" is their problem. The copy blames glands, puberty, inheritance, sun, and modern fashions that show more skin than "our grandmother's day." It warns against pills and hormone treatments, then sells cold wax as clean, safe, cheap, and locally made.
The Sohni Cold Epilatory Wax advertorial links women's body hair to glands, puberty, inheritance, fashion, medicine, and local manufacture.
Colwool closes the issue with a loud yellow back cover for "4-Ply Pure New Wool" under the line "Everywhere It's Knitwear." Mod typography, young models, knitwear as city fashion.
The Colwool back cover uses mod typography, a yellow field, and young models to sell knitwear as urban fashion.
Rozina Centerfold
Save the best contradiction for last.
This is the issue that proudly reports police seizing "obscene and semi-nude banners" from cinemas. The same issue prints a full-color centerfold of Rozina.
The Rozina centerfold appears inside an issue that also reports police seizures of obscene cinema banners.
The caption says she is "looking ahead for a real break." Then it adds, in words that need no commentary: "She has all the curves and verve for the sex starve audience."
The magazine reports the morality raids on one page and serves the "sex starve audience" on another. No one at the desk seems to notice. Or everyone does, and nobody cares. Either way, that is October 1971 in one magazine: an industry producing, posing, banning, fleeing, and selling, while the country it called home stopped existing in the shape it knew.
The complete digital archive of Eastern Film is held by Khajistan, with physical collections housed at the University of Pennsylvania's Kislak Center and Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford. This issue is available to download here.
