I was saddened when a I saw a TV footage the other day showing pitiable condition of the two houses located in Peshawar city where two legendary film stars were born and bred. If they are not repaired at once they might cave in any time. One of these two houses is located in Dhakki Munawwar Shah, Qissa Khani, which was constructed by the grandfather of Bollywood showman Rajkapoor and where he was born and where his father, the indomitable Prthvi Raj also spent his school and college days. The other house belonged to the father of the tragedy king Dilip Kumar whose real name was Yousaf Khan and in which he had opened his eyes.
Mian Ifthikhar Hussain, information minister in the former ANP government of KP certainly won the hearts of the film fans of Peshawar when during his stint in office he had declared his intention to buy these two houses, notify them as national heritage and then convert them into museums after carrying out their repairs. The present government should have picked up the thread, where it was left by the previous government, and it should have, by now, acquired these houses because Imran Khan personally knows and realises the status of both Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor and their contribution to cinema.
Hitherto nothing concrete has been done by the present KP government in the matter which is causing consternation among the art loving people of the province. Needless to say that the three film stars named above have made Peshawar proud through their outstanding performance in the realms of acting. It is the unanimous view of the film critics of the sub- continent that Bollywood and Lollywood have not produced an actor of Dilip’s calibre and his tragedy roles, in particular, were matchless and outstanding. God had gifted Prthvi Raj with a baritone voice and body that suited character roles. His son Raj Kapoor excelled in light comic roles and through the medium of films he spread message of equality and waged a war against exploitation of man by man.
- Latest
- Trending
