Kamal Ahmed Rizvi
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Kamal Ahmed Rizvi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 May 1930 |
| Died | 17 December 2015 (aged 85) |
| Occupations | TV actor, playwright |
| Known for | Set a new trend in TV situation comedy dramas in Pakistan |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 1 |
| Awards | Pride of Performance Award by the President of Pakistan in 1989[2] |
Syed Kamal Ahmed Rizvi[2] (1 May 1930 – 17 December 2015) was a Pakistani television actor and playwright. He was born in Bihar, British India and died in Karachi, Pakistan.[3][1] Rizvi wrote and starred in the comedy series Alif Noon (1981-82 TV season), and won a Pride of Performance Award in 1989.[2] Considered a founding father of theatre in Pakistan, he was also a director, translator, editor and a painter.[4]
Kamal Ahmed Rizvi and his family had migrated to Karachi, Pakistan from Bihar, British India after 1947. During his early days in Karachi, he lived in an apartment in Arambagh area, before moving to Lahore to meet his idol, the renowned short story writer Saadat Hasan Manto with whom he spent a lot of precious time in Lahore in the early 1950s, and was influenced by him. Rizvi was generally impressed by the Progressive Writers' Movement people that he associated with in Lahore and Karachi. In Karachi, Saddar's Café George became his Pak Tea House (Lahore's famous hangout centre for leftist writers and intellectuals). Rizvi used to spend many hours here talking with then renowned writers like Ibrahim Jalees and Shaukat Siddiqui.[1]
Career
At first, he tried his hand at editing some popular digests such as Tehzeeb and Shama. He also tried his luck with cinema but then decided not to pursue it and instead chose to be associated with Radio Pakistan.[2][1]
Kamal Ahmed Rizvi got a chance for his first acting stint when renowned Pakistani actor Zia Mohyeddin staged Shakespeare's play 'Julius Caesar' for BBC Urdu Service.[1] This led him to take up numerous theatre ventures and subsequently, television. Rizvi was invited to come to TV by one of the pioneers of Pakistan television Aslam Azhar.[5] Here, he met the Hardy (actor Nanha) to his Laurel (Laurel played by Kamal Ahmed Rizvi himself in their future TV shows). This stand-up comedy duo ruled Pakistan Television for many years in the 1980s with their popular TV comedy series.[1]
During his early days at Pakistan Television, Kamal Rizvi had also done a series of interviews with the common people of Lahore which included a 'paan-seller' and a 'waiter' of a coffeehouse.[2]
