very informative article from ‘Dawn’
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The return of Fakhr-e-Alam
By Fe’reeha Masood Idrees
A few years ago, a young person emerged on the show business scene of Pakistan and took everyone by storm. His unusual bhangra rapping had everyone tapping their toes, while his unique performance style on stage outshined others. Those were the days of Fakhr-e-Alam when his songs were on top of all the charts and his compering became the prime requisite of every pop music show. Today we hear a number of artists from both across the border and our own country, trying their hands at remixes and fusion music, yet history is proof to the fact that leaving Adnan Sami aside, Fakhr was the first one to present this region with his style of music, which became one of the fastest selling hits of the time.
Those were also the times when Fakhr was linked with one of the leading actresses of the telly world of that time. The combination of tall, dark, handsome with young, enthusiastic and talented, plus the impressive background of a journalist mother and a bureaucrat father became irresistible for the media.
Things happened too fast for me, my career started with a bang for which I am grateful to the Almighty, but I guess the Fakhr of that time might have been a more glamourous figure for people, but he was not as mature as the Fakhr of today, he admits. “At that time, I never really thought about the subtler sides of life, everything was too colourful and success was the only word that rung in my ears, I did not realize it at that time that everything that goes up, comes down. Life has a very balanced graph. In the practical world, you have to face things whether you like them or not, and that’s what maturing is all about.”
It was strange yet refreshing to hear about the ebbs and tides of life from a person who has returned to the limelight after a full period. Neatly dressed in a brown shirt and black trousers, he excused himself while he talked on his mobile with a director for the shooting of a programme.
“No, I have got a two days old beard and am shabbily dressed in last nights’ clothes because I have to be on television,” he joked before switching the phone off. “My wit is something I will be incomplete without,” he said aptly for one could see that even after four days of continuous shootings and rehearsals which required travelling everyday to Lahore and back to Karachi, he was as alert and witty as he is always on TV.
Fakhr’s hometown is in Lahore, his parents are settled in Islamabad, which he claims to be his favourite city, but he himself has now settled down in Karachi buying a car and an apartment here after his divorce from his wife of two and a half years. He was recently in Sajjad Gul’s film No Paisa No Problem which bombed at the box office. In Karachi, he is busy with various projects. He has just returned from a long trip in the USA and Canada which included twenty-two concerts.
Fakhr made his Lollywood debut through Very good duniya, very bad log in 1998. Even though the movie was tagged as a major flop, Fakhr’s acting got rave reviews from all the major critics. “When a movie flops there are certain elements behind it. You just cannot blame a single actor or actress behind for its success or failure. Rationally and figuratively speaking, the main reason behind the film’s failure was its huge budget. The movie was made with the desire to give something good to the public, with an amount of one and a half crore rupees being spent on it. When the figures were collected at the end of the year, Very good duniya very bad log turned out to be the second highest grosser in the year. Nikah being the first that bagged eight million rupees. Nikah was a success. Very good duniya very bad log flopped because it could not even gross half the amount spent on it. I heard a few people mumbling that I was to be blamed. I was not the budget maker, director, music composer or writer of the movie. All I was supposed to do was to act and for that I got appreciation anyway.”
As to the issues concerning the low standards of the film industry Fakhr has a new perspective. “Believe me I was once also part of the popular group that criticizes our industry. Yet ever since I worked with the film industry, my views have completely changed. I can now see the limitations of the environment in which they work. Besides, every media focuses on its target audience. The target public of movie makers is not that sneering group which would just sit home and criticize even before watching the movies - the movies are made for seventy-five percent population of our country which is neither educated nor very resourceful, whose main source of entertainment in life is a dance from a beautiful actress on screen. I am not saying that there is no room for improvement, all I am trying to do is to give the reasons for the situations. My new movie was again an attempt towards a better film. It had me and Humayon Saeed in its lead roles. No paisa no problem was a commercial film.”
Fakhr-e-Alam spent his major education years in Lahore where he was a student of the prestigious Government College Lahore that has given top personalities of Pakistan in every field, be it bureaucracy, acting or literature. The college was the first acting stage for Fakhr where he did the leading role in Bernard Shaw’s play The Devil’s Disciple, staged by the Government College Dramatic Club.
That play gave an outlet to my talent but it proved to be a very controversial occurrence in my life. I was selected after an audition for the leading role even though I was a mere freshman at that time. The senior students, especially those of the English department were not very happy about it. My leading lady was from the Masters class also. Subsequently, another audition was called for and I was selected again, yet the students did not accept the decision. Finally the Principal had to come as a judge at the third audition, and thank God, I was selected once again. College helped me in grooming myself a lot. I was a very active member of the debating society and got a chance to gain confidence in my extempore speech abilities. I think my ability to face the camera and live audience for hours without a script emerged from there.
His compering days began when he started singing. The style in which he conducted Music Channel Charts became an instant hit with the audience. Today we see a horde of young people doing the shows in the same style. Yet the difference remains that when Fakhr was doing those shows, the invasion from MTV and digital channels was not as forceful as it is today. His style was unique and original.
Today, I hear people coming to me and comparing me with new artists who are conducting shows. I want them to realize that I renewed the trends a long time back. Then while I was doing MCC, there was again a lobby that gave wind to the rumour that I took my song to the Number One spot, while in reality I had no say in the charts. They were all made by mail that we used to get. In fact this negative propaganda became so active that when I started doing Pepsi Top of the Pops, it was agreed upon mutually that my video would never reach the Number One spot. Consequently, my song used to be number one at times according to the mail sent by my wonderful and loyal fans, but officially my song never reached the Number. As far as my fans are concerned, they always either love me or hate me. There is no midpoint about me, strangely enough.
As Fakhr talked about compering he became very excited about an incident. “Let me tell you about what happened to me a few days back. I have always respected Moin Akhtar and I believe that he is an institution in himself. Only a couple of weeks back Moin “bhai” called me on my personal number for the first time in my life. As I was not expecting his call, I asked him who he was and he said that he was a fan of mine. A few minutes later he revealed his identity and said that he thought that I was a very talented compere and someone whom he thought would take his place after his retirement. Believe me, listening to these words from the legend’s mouth himself were like a glass of heavenly wine for me,” said Fakhr, his eyes glowing like a little child’s.
That he is a talented compere is a unanimous decision, however his music has always been a source of controversy amongst the critics.
Even though I have tried my hands in a number of fields, my passion remains to perform in a concert on stage in front of a live audience. I don’t enjoy anything more. A lot of people have told me that I must change my style of music but I focus on one thing alone, and that is having fun. My music is a source of entertainment for me and I want it to be the same for my listeners. I did fusion music when nobody had done it before, apart from Adnan Sami. Today you hear every other artistes doing it. At times I feel as if I did everything too soon. I always got inspiration for my albums from my country. My second album was a compilation of remixes called No more school, no more homework. Lot aao became an instant hit. In my third album, I had Ustad Hamid Ali Khan singing three songs with me. It was an enriching experience. I think this experiment helped in bridging the gap between pop and classical music. I really respect Ustad Hamid Ali Khan After doing the album, he told me that he was warned by people not to do an album with a rap artist but that he had really enjoyed it. He even praised my efforts put in for the song Allah hoo, and coming from an Ustad, this praise means a lot to me. He told me that people request him to sing the songs from my album at his musical function.
Fakhr feels that his experiment proved those people wrong who consider pop music and classical music as two separate genres and showed that pop and classical can co-exist. It also proved that if classical is presented with a few medication, it can make a very strong impact on the young listeners. “The fact that I have actually sung with an Ustad has given me a new respect for my music. We also did a song on Baba Bhulay Shah’s poetry, and I am proud to say that I am the first one to introduce this great poet’s work in the pop world for the first time. You see my shortcoming has been that I was always too shy to talk about my achievements, I always thought that it would be like bragging about myself, but now I have come to realize that you have to tell people what you have done, otherwise the anti-lobbyists will make sure that your efforts go unnoticed.” He has been accused of hanging around influential people to gain roles in TV.
“I can just laugh in amazement at all this baseless accusation. You see my background is such that I get to meet all these senior officials and politicians. It is not because of them that I am where I am today. I think I have put in a lot of hardwork to reach this place. My mother is a very pinching sort of a journalist. I am very proud of her for she is never afraid of speaking the truth. People are always afraid of Aroosa Alam’s articles. The funny thing is that my mother would not even spare my father’s friends or mine which puts us at times in a very awkward position. But she is one great mother. My family is not my possession, but it is the dearest thing to me in my life. I absolutely adore my father and brother and my biggest fear in life will be to lose anyone of them.”
Talking about his personal life, Fakhr praised his ex-wife. “The two and a half years of time that I spent in my marriage was just beautiful. I had an absolutely wonderful wife who gave one hundred percent to the marriage. I honestly take all the blame of my divorce on myself, for even though I was never disloyal and absolutely was devoted to my wife, I just could not take out enough time for her. I got too busy in my work. Marriage is like a child, you have to nurture it with your blood. I guess I was not capable of doing that and I regret not putting in enough effort to make it work. I give full credit to my ex-wife for putting up with me those years, I also realize now that I am too much of a workaholic and marriage is something I am definitely not ready for. I have no plans of getting married in the near future. Immediately after my divorce, people started linking me with different women, two of them being models. There is no serious relationship going on at the moment. I am totally focusing on my work”.
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“I was just here. Where did I go?” (Fox Mulder)