Aangan Tehra

If Half-Plate can be considered the best teleplay by Anwar Maqsood, Aangan Tehra (آنگن ٹھڑا) is his best TV Drama Serial. It’s an old serial, which was presented by PTV in the late 1980’s. It was directed by Qaisar Farooq.

Almost all the episode of the series are shot indoors, which is depicted as the house of Mehboob Ahmed (a retired civil servant played by Shakeel). Each episode is based around some characteristics of Pakistani society ranging from the effects of Marshal Law on the society to the life of journalists.

Several guest stars appear in this series include Moeen Akhtar, Muhammad Ali Shehki and Anwar Maqsood himself. He appears in the last but one episode to announce that the series is about to come to an end. Within this episode, he gathers all the characters and tells them which ones stay to perform for the last episode and which ones have to leave. The last episode brings a nice end to the series.

Main Cast

Shakil, Salim Nasir, Bushra Ansari, Durdana Butt, Arshad Mahmood and some guest stars

1. Mehboob Ahmed, played by Shakeel, is a retired civil servant with meagre resources.
2. Jehan Ara Begum, played by Bushra Ansari, is Mehboob’s wife. They don’t have any children. Jehan Ara Begum always cribs about Mehboob’s financial condition.
3. Akbar, played by Salim Nasir, is the servant who lives with the family and is never paid his salary. Yet he remains loyal and doesn’t leave Mr. and Mrs. Mehboob. He is previously a classical dancer, and his only desire is to earn fame with his skills in dancing.
4. Chaudhry Sahib, played by Arshad Mehmood, is Mehboob Ahmed’s neighbour. He is easily impressed by whatever Mehboob Ahmed says or plans to do.
5. Hamsheera Sultana, played by Durdana Butt, is Chaudhry Sahib’s sister. She is unmarried and secretly admires Mehboob Ahmed for his personality and character. Of course, she isn’t liked by Jehan Ara at all.

Trailer

Trivia

1. The name Aangan Tehra seems to be derived from the Urdu proverb: Naach na janay aangan tehra (ناچ نہ جانے آنگن ٹھڑا), which literary means that if someone doesn’t know how to dance, he complains that the flooring is not balanced.

Waris

Waris (وارث) by Amjad Islam Amjad is yet another PTV classic from 1980’s. It’s a story of a feudal lord, Chaudhary Hashmat, and depicts the greed and ruthlessness of feudal lords in rural Pakistan. Despite his cruelty and cunningness, the Chaudhary ultimately gets punished by fate.

The role of Chaudhary Hashmat is played by Mehboob Alam. He lives in Sikandarpur; he has a son and two nephews, and this small family has its ways to subdue entire Sikandarpur. As the story progresses, their land is under threat of compulsory purchase by the government for a new dam. The Chaudhary doesn’t vacate the place and meets a fatal end.

Waris was directed by Nusrat Thakur. Most of the shooting has been done either indoors or in a village setting, with occasional scenes depicting the city of Lahore.

Being an old serial, this drama serial would hardly impress the later generations. However, anyone who is fond of the glorious days of PTV will surely find this a treat; all actors have performed their best.

Main Cast of Waris

Abid Ali, Mehboob Alam, Munawar Saeed, Firdaus Jamal, Khayyam Sarhadi, Aurangzeb Laghari and others

1. Chaudhary Hashmat, played by Mehboob Alam, is the lead character of this drama.
2. Chaudhary Anwar, played by Firdaus Jamal, is one of the two nephews of Chaudhary Hashmat. He is greedy and always at odds with his brother.
3. Chaudhary Niaz, played by Aurangzeb Laghari, is the other nephew of Chaudhary Hashmat. He is not much interested in the land, and wants to escape away from the feudal system, but finds it difficult to do so.
4. Dilawar, played by then young Abid Ali, is another interesting character. He wins Chaudhary Hashmat’s loyalty by stealing a dog for him and joins his ranks. Inside, he wants to seek revenge of the death of his brother.

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