Zia Mohyeddin
Birth—1933 Where—Faisalabad Education—Bibliography |
Zia Mohyeddin, now a legend in his lifetime, is a man of many parts. His long career spans acting, directing, writing, broadcasting and a wide range of aesthetic disciplines. Born in Faisalabad, he graduated in 1949 from Government College, Lahore. Starting as a broadcaster on Radio Pakistan, he moved later to Radio Australia, and then to the BBC. He took his degree in acting from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London and returned to Pakistan in 1956. Despite limited audiences, he plunged into producing, directing and acting in Urdu and English plays to try and establish the institution of serious theatre in the country. Unfortunately, support from the market simply wasn’t there. Two years later he went back to London on a British Council Fellowship to study methods of directing. He worked for a while, as a guest director at the Guildford rep. It was there that he was picked up to play ‘Dr.Aziz’ in a production of ‘A Passage to India’ at the Oxford Playhouse. The production was so successful that it was later transferred to London’s West-End and, later, to Broadway. Zia Mohyeddin’s performance as Dr.Aziz launched him as a leading actor on the British stage. The first Asian to have his name up in lights in the West End of London. Z M made many memorable stage appearances, in London and on Broadway, both in classical and contemporary works. He has been seen in such films as “Khartoum,” ‘Work is a Four letter Word’, ‘Sailor From Gibraltor’, ‘Deadlier Than The Male’, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ etc. His television appearance are too numerous to list. In Pakistan, his highly acclaimed “Zia Mohyeddin show” became the paradigm of tasteful entertainment. Later, he accepted the post of Director at the PIA Arts and Dance Academy about which surprisingly little is known within Pakistan. ‘The challenge intrigued me!’ he says. His tutelage created a remarkable ensemble that carried the songs and dances of Pakistan to rapturous accolades of audiences in many countries. After forming and directing the PIA Arts and Dance Academy in Pakistan, Zia met the exceptionally talented classical dancer Naheed Siddiqui and showcased her prominently in the Academy. They later married and after much strife both within the Academy and in the harsh Bhutto regime, he migrated back to England. In 1970, Zia became the actor – producer – director – of the first and the last Urdu film of his movie career, ‘Mujrim kaun’, which was released in Pakistan. In England he worked till mid nineties. He worked in stage plays and films less frequently and used television as his main medium. His weekly cultural programme, “Here & Now”, presented and produced by him, had a continuous ten-year run. He set up and produced Britain’s first Asian soap “Family Pride” in which he also starred. Zia Mohyeddin is the founder of Reader’s Theatre in Pakistan. He started with short selections from English poetry which he read out over Radio and television in England. One critic noted, ‘His voice, it must be mentioned, is worth a profile by itself: a cross between dark brown velvet and gravel moving gently in honey.’ Later he adapted the discipline of the Western genre of ‘reading’, to Urdu prose and poetry. In Lahore his “Evening with Zia Mohyeddin” has become an annual fixture and he has been delighting audiences with a new repertoire since 1987. In 2004, the President of Pakistan entrusted him with the task of setting up a National Academy of Performing Arts. The Academy (NAPA) was inaugurated in Karachi, 2005, with Zia Mohyeddin as its Chairman & CEO. To this date, despite his growing age, Zia is still active among Pakistani media as a speaker and giving Urdu poetry and prose recitations. A also writes regularly for The Friday Times.
Star of Lahore: An Interview with Zia Mohyeddin (Bapsi Sidhwa’s “City of Sin and Splendour”) |
The God of My Idolatry (2016)
A Carrot is a Carrot: Memories and Reflections (2012) 