Anniversary: Jamil Fakhri remembered

LAHORE:

“Jamil Fakhri mastered the art of making people laugh whether on screen or off it,” said actress Kanwal Nauman on his second death anniversary on Sunday. Several television, film, and theatre artists remembered him on the occasion.

Fakhri gained great popularity through his role as SHO Jaffar Hussain in a TV series Andhera Ujala. With his restrained style of acting and poker faced comedy, he became one of the faces of PTV’s golden age.

Playwright Shahid Nadeem said that Fakhri had beautifully moulded himself into a typical old pehlawan living in Lahore in his play Janjal Pura as Dada Pehlawan. He was a versatile actor who revealed acute observations of life, people and situations through his acting, said painter Quddus Mirza.

“He is one of the few actors our country has produced whose eyes and facial expressions told the story,” said theatre actress Uzma Hassan.

Fakhri died on June 9, 2011 shortly after his son Ali Ayaz Fakhri was brutally murdered in New York. He was devastated by the death of his son, said artist Qavi Khan.

Nauman recalled a performance by Fakhri, following mother’s death. He was making people laugh on stage and cried backstage, said Nauman.

Several artists agreed that the government should name a theatre after Fakhri.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2013.