Haseena Moin

Haseena Moin (Urdu: حسینہ معیں ) (born 20 November 1941) is a notable Pakistani dramatist, playwright and writer for radio and television.

Early life

A native of Kanpur, the most populous city in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Hassena Moin received her early education in her ancestral region and, after the partition of India, migrated with her family to Pakistan. She lived for a number of years in Rawalpindi, then moved to Lahore and, in the 1950s, settled in Karachi, where she graduated from the Government College for Women in 1960 and Mastered in History from Karachi University in 1963. Her radio and television plays have earned international repute.

Claim To Fame

Her fame started laying its foundation when she regularly wrote some memorable plays for Radio Pakistan Karachi's all time popular "Studio Number NAU" (which, incidently, produced artiste' like Talat Hussain, Sajida Syed, Santosh Russell, Mughal Bashar, Mehmood Ali, Qazi Wajid, Talat Siddiqui, Rehana Siddiqui, Neelofer Aleem, Mahmood Khan Moodi, Jamshed Ansari...the list goes on....). Professionally...Hasina took up the educational pursuits and did teaching..and rose to the level of Principal.

It was in 1969 that Iftikhar Arif, Head-Script at PTV-Karachi Centre...called Hasina and offered her to write a play for the then, forthcoming EID. Initially Hasina was shocked and fell off the lid...but took courage to pen down a play...the cast of which was also decided by her with Kunwar Aftab Ahmed as the Director....hence came "EID KA JORRA" with Neelofer Aleem and Shakil in lead supported by Khalid Nizami and Ishrat Hashmi and thereafter it was no looking back for Hasina...as the Eid Al Azha saw "Happy Eid Mubarak" and then came the deluge----with serials and plays like; SHEHZORI, ZEIR ZABR PEISH, UNCLE URFI, UNKAHI, TANHAIYAAN, PARCHAIEYEN, BANDISH, DHUND, DHOOP KINAREY, AAHAT, KASAK, PAL DO PAL, TERE AJANE SE...while her play "GURYA" directed by Shirin Khan with cast; Manzoor Qureshi, Shahla Ahmad (Bina of Uncle Urfi), Azra Sherwani and Raju Jamil, won an award at the Global TV Plays festival at Tokyo..on best script and direction.....where Shirin traveled and participated on behalf of PTV-Karachi...in 1975.

Hasina is recipient of President of Pakistan's PRIDE OF PERFORMANCE award---though she deserved SITARA E IMTIAZ.

Hasina Moin has introduced many legends of Pakistani dramas like Shakeel, Shehnaz Sheikh, Marina Khan, Nadia Khan, Nadia Jamil, Salman Ahmad and many more. Whereas many actors rose to fame due to her serials like Roohi Bano, Khalida Riyasat, Azra Sherwani, Behroze Sabzwari, Badar Khalil, Qazi Wajid, Jamshed Ansari, Sania Saeed and many more.

Success

With her incomparable command of Urdu, she harvests the subtlety, flexibility and expressiveness of this colourful language to the full, dazzling her listeners. Haseena Moin is lucky, for what is there more satisfying than to have your creative efforts come to life on-screen and receive universal admiration.

While we were all still wondering in the mid-60s if that modern miracle, television, would ever come to Pakistan, suddenly, there it was. And in those now-forgotten days, a young woman called Haseena Moin and PTV both played a big role in each others success and rapid growth.

PTV thrived on the sophisticated and very funny serials, mostly of around 13 episodes, that Haseena Moin scripted, and she, too, had found the right medium for her talent. In the absence of a vibrant theatre tradition in the country, TV presented the budding playwright with the perfect opening she needed.

The black and white mini screen that signed off after a mere three hours in the evening, would instantly hum with life and vitality when a Haseena Moin play started. Of course, great credit also goes to the dedicated producers, directors and actors. But remember, its the script above all on which a plays success rests.

After decades of enjoying her plays, we all know who this lady is at least I like to think I do. But it does appear strange that with success following even greater success on the TV screen, Moin didn't branch out into other literary forms, for instance, the novel. Or even a few volumes of short stories which are such a popular genre among Urdu fiction writers. Then there is poetry, which every self-respecting lover of Urdu can recite non-stop at the drop of a hat.

Curiously, writing plays is perhaps a more highly complex specialty than the other literary genres, since it combines strong visual content with gripping dialogues tailored to specific characters. With her incomparable command of Urdu, she harvests the subtlety, flexibility and expressiveness of this colourful language to the full, dazzling her listeners. She's lucky, for what is more satisfying than to have your creative efforts come to life on-screen and receive universal admiration

Her drama serial Dhoop Kinare which aired in 1987 and was famous in Pakistan as well as India and is remembered by many people today was remade in India by the name of Kuch Toh Log Kahenge. It was re-written by popular Indian writer Kamlesh Pandey and he states that by remaking this play he has paid tribute to Hasina Moin.

Recent Work

Hasina Moin continues to pursue her talent—regardlessly---under the current commercial scenario which has gripped the Showbiz media on TV plays and serials where the farcical "writers" are making "hay" while the sun (of commercialism) shines! and Hasina..trying hard to be original instead of doing some cosmetics on the old and even new English, American and Indian movies—for transforming them into serials for PAK-SHOWBIZ on the tube!

Her dramas have been popular amongst every generation. Many of her plays are considered to be classics. All her plays highlight serious issues with a bit of humor. One can never get bored watching her plays. Almost all the legendary actors of Pakistani drama industry have starred in her plays. It was due to her plays that Pakistani dramas are being watched and appreciated all around the globe. She can be considered as one of the oldest and most famous writers of Pakistani dramas. Her classics like Dhoop Kinare have been adapted for Indian television. She had also written the dialogues for the Indian movie Henna and has also written a play for India called Tanha, which become widely popular during its run.She is considered to be a legend in Pakistani drama industry and many famous writers of today are following her footsteps.

Her recent drama CHOTI SI KAHANI aired in May 2011 on PTV HOME, had a huge star cast and was directed by Kamran Qureshi was well received by the critics and the audience. It focused on the story of three friends and their problems and how they are related to each other.

Her upcoming projects include, Hamari Behan Maya which will be directed by Ali Rizvi, the director who gave super hit dramas like Des Pardes and Aansoo with Hasina Moin. Besides this Hasina Moin is writing a mega play for Media City Productions which will introduce some new faces.

Interview

Hasina Moin/Haseena Moin Drama writer Unedited interview about exploration of themes over the decades Herald Special Lifestyle issue

1960s When I was in college in intermediate, I started to write caricatures. These would be published in magazines. I used to write humorous caricatures about college mates, teachers, myself and about college. Then one day radio Pakistan sent a circular to our college saying that we would like college girls to submit a drama for us and its duration should be of 25 minutes. My Urdu lecturer Mrs. Salma Haqqee asked me to submit a play but I told her that I don’t know how to write a drama or even write; all this writing that I do is just a joke, so she said just write this joke then. So I wrote the drama in 2 days in college and submitted it. The drama was titled Patriyaan and was produced by Agha Nasir, because it was hilarious it even got an award and this is how I got my break in writing. When I started to write, plays and serials in those days would be made on books and published works, I was the first person to write an original play. A lot of people were against it when I was writing Kiran Kahani, an original serial but then a lot of people also supported me as well. After my serial producers started to direct serials based on original storylines.

1970s Initially my writing themes were associated with my life. When a person is young, she finds life to be beautiful, colorful, every emotion is lovely. We were many brothers and sisters who were very similar and were loud, my parents were very loving towards us and towards each other and that influenced my writing a lot. This whole atmosphere I brought into my TV serials such as Shehzori, Uncle Urfi and Kiran Kahani. All of these plays were full of life, laughter and loudness.

1980s In the 80s my writings reflected hope, life‘s niceness and its beauty. Then I changed my style from humorous to serious upon the suggestion of Shoaib Mansoor. He told me that if you can write comedy so well you can do a good job with serious writing, why don’t you try. So for Jashn-e-Tamseel for PTV I wrote a serious play ‘sangsaar’. I even got an award for it. Then I wrote a serial ‘Parchaiyaan’ which was based on the novel ‘Portrait of a Lady’ by Henry James.

1990s Then a private production company approached me and asked me to write about Pakistani families living in pitiable conditions in Scotland. I was invited to visit them and meet them and find out about their state. So I did go and met many families and this is how I wrote Des Pardes, Aansoo and Castle. Then based on Karachi’s conditions I wrote a play Chup Darya. In 1992 I wrote Aahat, a serial based on family planning and Tansen which was a historical serial. So my style changed into more serious tone in the 1990s. Aahat was the first serial in Pakistan that dealt with family planning,

2000s Now I write very less. Currently my serial Meray Dard Ko Jo Zubaan Milay is on air. This serial has an historical perspective as it relates to the cruelty that women have had to endure since moenjodaro times dating almost 5000 years ago. I have always written about women simply because the Urdu literature that I grew up reading always had stories in which the woman was always sad and in it there were themes of women sacrificing themselves and that they should sacrifice and she would be praised for keeping quiet and that used to rile me up and I used to hate it. A souten would come into the household and this first wife is preparing food for her and she would be praised to the limits. I thought it was really ridiculous. This thought remained in my subconscious. So when I started to write plays I portrayed strong girls. When Shehzori first came on air, it was highly controversial. I was questioned as to what I am trying to teach the girls. Should they do whatever they want? I told them look my heroine is not badtameez but she does what she thinks is right and will not do what is wrong, this is a right which every woman should have.

In terms of Censorship It used to be very strict in PTV when I started off. However we became used to it and have developed a sense of self-censorship and also learnt how to convey our message in a subtle manner. For instance in Aahat I couldn’t take the name of family planning as it would create a furore so I wrote the whole serial about it without once mentioning the name. Now people have broken a lot of censorship rules and themes are being explored which earlier one could not. Moreover earlier we had ridiculous rules about censorship in which a woman had to cover her head at all times. My serial Kasak had to go through this trouble. Initially the title role was being played by Sahira Kazmi as on her personal request I wrote the serial, but then the directors said that even when the main character is getting up from her sleep and going to the washroom her head should be covered. Although in that house there is her child and herself. Sahira refused to play the role and Rubina Ahraf stepped in. Who does this in their house? Drama should be as close to life as possible. I recall watching a scene in a play at that time, in which the girl is drowning and the women around her are covering her head with a dupatta. That was stupid and the girl was also not in her senses. During Zia’s time we did a serial Parchaiyaan which was about a mistress but we didn’t label it as a mistress due to censorship policies, it went on air and people didn’t even notice. I presented it indirectly while the book made it obvious but I left it to viewer’s interpretation.

Selected television dramas written by Haseena Moin

Following are her various some popular drama serials: The dramas in bold are her all time hits and considered to be classics.

• Ankahi
• Tanhaiyaan
• Perchhaiyaan
• Gurya
• Dhund
• Parosi
• Kiran Kahani
• Aahut
• Singaar
• Zer Zabar Paish
• Dhoop Kinaray
• Kasak
• Uncle Urfi
• Shehzori
• Naya Raasta
• Taan Sen
• Aansoo
• Kohar
• Teray Ajaney Se
• Des Pardes
• Pal Do Pal
• Kaisa Yeh Junoon
• Mere Dard Ko Jo Zuban Miley
• Jaane Ajaane
• The Castle Aik Umeed
• Shayad Ke Bahar Aaye
• Tum Se Mil Kar
• Tanha (Indian Drama)
• Aania
• Ik Nae Mod Par
• Bandish
• Choti Si Kahani
• Hamari Behan Maya (Upcoming)

Telefilms

• Mohim Joo
• Eid Ka Jorra
• Dhundle Raste ( Television mini-series)
• Mayke Ka Bakra
• Happy Eid Mubarak
• Choti Choti Baatein

Films

• Heena (Indian Film)-(1991)
• Kahin Pyar Na Ho Jaey (Pakistani Film)-(1998)

External links

• as Begum Hasina Moin at the Internet Movie Database