The Star
1982
Sadiq Jafri interviews Salima Hashmi
I first saw her in the television series ‘baleela’
The second time I saw her was at the exhibition: ‘naqshe shaair’ at the National Council of Arts, perhaps in October 82.
And it was only recently, on a cloudy February evening, that I finally went to an old Victorian house in Model Town Lahore to interview Salima Hashmi.
My first question was about the first time I saw her.
Sadiq Jafri: What happened to Baleela? I could only see a few episodes.
Salima Hashmi: It was banned.
S.J: And you?
S.H: Shoaib and I were also banned. But it is not for the first time. We have been banned thrice before from television
S.J: Not a bad score. What were the reasons?
S.H: Policy, so to say. You say something that you shouldn’t have. Although everything goes on air after else about proper approvals.
S.J: What television?
S. H; Television is a very stimulating place to work. It is a professional field and those who merit professionally are on the top. Despite certain restrictions, I enjoyed it partly due to the fact perhaps that I always worked with our entire group. Shoaib and others. It was always been teamwork. No tensions, a relaxed atmosphere. But like all other fields, television also has its frustrating aspects. You may have done a marvelous program and feel satisfied but when you see it on screen, it is cut by 50 per cent.
S.J: Would you rejoin tele. vision if they ask you?
S.H: Of course.
S.J: You have also been an old-timer of the stage.
S.H: I started working on the theatre when I was a student in the NCA, in 1960. I participated in a few plays with Yasmin Tahir, Khurshid Shahid and Shoaib. Infact that is where we met. On my return from England in 19651 not only resumed theatre but also included it in the art classes at the NCA. Speaking of theatre in Pakistan in general, I feel a sense of regret only. Talent-wise our theatre is rich but that is only raw talent with no training. Technologically, we are very poor.
S.J: What about its standard at present?
S.H: There are always two kinds of theatre. Good and commercial. In Pakistan we have only one kind of theatre that is commercial. Good theatre is always created by patronage. It can’t make money, not even in the United States and England, where the literacy rate is much higher than ours. But unfortunately, that is a fact our Culture Ministry is not ready to understand. They want the theatre to pay for itself. They patronize bad theatre but not the good. Then they themselves complain about its standard. I feel very strongly that the arts councils must subsidies good theatre.
S.J: What about your photography? Are you doing anything new, any innovation?
S.H: Not at all. It is only another medium of expression for me that I adopted beside my art teaching. I have done a few photographic surveys on different topics like children and women of Pakistan. A friend of mine, not so well-known, Rashida, is the real talent in photography.
S.J: And your art teaching?
S.H: Teaching is my first love. My basic commitment is with the NCA. As an institution it gave me a lot when I was a student there and it is my way of giving back. In Pakistan there are very, very rare places where people come to learn and they learn.
S.J: Do you have some special way of teaching?
S.H: I don’t believe in the guru-disciple relationship be. tween the teacher and the student. I believe that this way they (the students) are only taught to be blind. As a teacher I let my students observe and create themselves and then I guide them.
S.J: Have you ever illustrated your father’s poetry?
S.H: No. Painting and literature are two different mediums. You can’t mix them.
S.J: What about Iqbal’s illustrations by Chughtai and Sadequain?
S.H: They are good, but are merely reproductions of some others thoughts. They have no content of their own. You can’t say they are original
S.J: You are a working woman. Would you describe the problems of this class?
S.H: Working women don’t make a limited class in Pakistan. They are in the majority. Seventy percent of them who live in rural areas all work. In cities also there is only a very limited class of women who don’t work and stay isolated while servants do their chores. All of us millions of working women face similar problems. Everywhere, we serve others. Outside the home we serve those who pay for it. Inside the home we serve our elders, husbands and children
S.J: What do you like most in a man, by the way?
S.H: Breadth of vision.
S.J: Some people say it is the strength of men which attracts women.
S.H: Strength of what?
S.J: Of the mind.
S.H: Strange. I have never come across a man having mental strength. I found it to the contrary. Men are fairly weak mentally, especially in our country. I suppose they have an exaggerated notion of their mental strength. Usually, they are emotionally insecure people. But I know women who are stronger because they have to struggle more than men.
S.J: You have been brought up in a different kind of an atmosphere. Your father is a world-known personality and your mother is European Do you feel somewhat different.
S.H: We are only two sisters. When we were small abba’ went to jail and ‘Amman’ brought us up. In the beginning there was no economic security. Our home was no different from an average house in Pakistan. But yes, in one respect it was different. There were no unnecessary restrictions. Amman wanted us to read everything. in Urdu specially. In our childhood we read all the old books like ‘taubatun nusooh’ Amman wanted to make us independent and productive. She was not worried about our marriage as the majority of Pakistanis are. What I have learnt through my experiences is that status and money is nothing. I have travelled a lot, like an ordinary person. Sometimes I made it through hitch-hiking. My husband is also not a landlord. We spend what we earn.
S.J: You gave a patient hearing to my questions. Thank you.
S.H: So, did you to my lengthy answers. Thank you.