FilmIndia (Jan-Nov 1942)

Mazhar Khan Hits Out Baby Anwar, Symbol of India's Unity! By : Sushila Rani "Even if I become a millionaire — and that is a million to one chance — I would always love to work under Director Shantaram in any role he gtves me. For, I feel that with him and him alone can a true artiste give full expression to his aching soul", replied Mazhar Khan vehemently, despite his graceful effeminate smile, when I asked him whether he would work on the screen after making his pile as a producer. "And what about the ether drrectors?" "Well, less said about them tne better. That way 1 am also a director now''. In a moment. Mazhar Khan realised that he had committed a grave mistake in saying what he had done with "filmindia'1 Interviewing him. Five feet, six inches and weignmg a full twelve stones, with curls playing on his bull-neck. Mazhar is quite a coy, modest fellow who kept blushing throughout perhaps ragged by the idea that a girl was interviewing him. He tried to look his best and act his best but for doing so it seemed he had taken the rules from a Woman's journal — for, every little move and sigh of his had an almost feminine grace. And yet Mazhar has been a boxer, a polo player, a football champ and an all-round athlete. As if to disprove the little graceful touches which constantly cover him, Mazhar likes to play strong character roles such as: the blacksmith in "Akela", the rickshawalla in "Rickshawalla', the barber in "Uljhan" and the horse-shoesmith in "Yad"'. But that is not all, Mazhar Is capable of. Since he took up the screen 18 years ago, he has worked In over 120 pictures and portrayed all sorts of roles proving his versatile talent in histrionics. And he has worked with all sorts of directors and under all possible condit ons. Some of his outstanding per formances were given in the following pictures: "The Challenge'', "Madhuri', "Nur Jehan", "Sonera Sansar*, "Sultana", "Baghi Sepahi" and "Akela '. While in "Padosi", as "Thakur". the Hindu neighbour, Mazhar Khan, the Muslim actor, played the role of his lifetime, living every minute the life of a Hindu and proving to those who insist on dividing India that there is nothing to choose between the Hindu and the Muslim and that one is the twin brother of the other. Not one from the millions who saw "Padosi" could say that "Thakur", the Hindu, was played by a Muslim actor. KIDNAPPING WOMEN Born on the 18th of October 1905 in Dhar State, the Indian screen would have lost this great actor, if he had listened to his father who was a First Class Magistrate and who wanted Mazhar to persevere in the police service where he was known by the dubious distinction of Sub-Inspector Mazhar Khan — salary Rs. 50/ with criminals as companions. Mazhar liked this rough and tumble game for some time as in his childhood he had seen thrillers on the screen in which kidnapping women and manhandling them had appealed to him immensely. As a police sub-inspector it was not lawand-order for him to be doing this, so he chucked the uniform out of his bathroom window one day 18 years ago and arrived in Bombay to try his luck on the movies. He had not counted on a brace of burly Pathans stopping him at the gates of the Imperial Film Company. With his 12 stone argument, Mazhar, however, presented himself before the proprietor and soon became one of the flowers in a picture called "The Fatal Garland". That was on Rs. 60/ a month. Now Mazhar earns anyth ng between five to six thousand rupees a month, be it as an independent pro Producer director artiste Mazhar Khan, who is now working in and directing "Yad". ducer, an optimistic director or a free-lance artiste. Not at all bad. Is it? MRS. MAZHAR KHAN Mazhar who is one of the very few Muslim actors who speaks Hindi correctly in addition to Urdu, is however, fond of bursting out into "King's English" and gives ample evidence of being a loyal subject of His Majesty King George VI by emulating his imperial example by a marked stammer and stutter. Mazhar's stammer and stutter In the rulers' tongue makes Mrs. Mazhar Khan's English a treat to hear — of course, in comparison. That brings me to Mrs. Mazhar Khan— a charming lady who has rare teeth which look as genuinely beautiful as a false set. Every third second the lips part and you see a sparkling smile, certain evidence of a sweet temper. She is a Hindu girl in the early twenties and though married to Mazhar, she still remains a Hindu, free to follow her own religion and observe all its ceremonials. Mazhar Khan is a free thinker, who because he is himself a devout Mahomedan who has correctly assimilated the spir t of the Quoran. suffers the individual to pursue his or her own religious inclinations. In Mazhar's present-day home therefore is found the future solu 59