Neelofer Abbasi is a renowned artist of Radio Pakistan and Pakistan Television. PTV followers remember her most from Haseena Moin‘s Drama serial ‘Shahzori’ and Radio Pakistan followers will always remember her for the daily morning show ‘subuh-e-nau’ which she anchored for several years. Her contribution to Pakistan’s radio and TV history is immense.
Few days ago we presented this Quiz as a curtain raiser to her career achievements and as an archive of Pakistan’s TV/Radio history. Below, we will provide answers to the Quiz as well as several other never-seen-before photos of Neelofer Abbasi. We are grateful that she generously shared her memories in the form of following collection with us.
(1) 1970 – A get together with colleagues
In the photo above, people from right to left are: Neelofer Alim (later Neelofer Abbasi), TV artist Shakeel, next to Shakeel is journalist Iqbal Ahmed Khan who was incharge of ‘filmi’ (movies) section of the daily Jang in 1970s. Next to Iqbal is Khursheed Talat. She appeared in PTV Plays circa 1970-1980. Khursheed is the daughter of TV and Radio artist Ishrat Hashmi.
(2) 1970 – Recording of Radio Drama ‘teh-e-daam’
The photo above was taken in 1970 during the recording of radio drams ‘tah-e-daam’. This drama was part of Radio Pakistan’s ‘jashn-e-tamseel’ series. People the can be seen in the photo include, from L to R, (1) an unknown artist – may be her name was Zahida (2) Agha Jehangir, (3) Neelofer Alim, (4) Riffat, (5) (late) TV/Radio artist Mahmood Ali, (5) Qazi Wajid, (6) Rizwana Masood, (7) Hassan Shaheed Mirza, (8) Maqbool Ali, (9) Arifa Shamsa, (10) Farooq Jehan Taimuri – She was also the producer of this drama and standing infront of the group is (12) Munni Baji.
(3) subah-e-nau
Neelofer Abbasi is seen here interviewing Jamiluddin Aali during daily morning show ‘subah-e-nau’.
Subah-e-nau ran successfully on Radio Pakistan for almost two decades in 70s and 80s.
(4) Neelofer Abbasi is seen here covering the Radio Pakistan’s daily morning show called ‘subah-e-nau’ (A New Dawn)
(5) January 1973 – Interviewing Rafi Khawer
Following photo shows actor Nana (real name Rafi Khawer) sharing some light moments with Neelofer Abbasi during a radio interview in 1973.
(6) 1969 – PTV Drama “Inspector”
A scene from the PTV drama ‘Insprctor’ in 1969. Neelofer Abbasi and TV artist (late) Zahoor Ahmed are seen in this photo.
(7) 1973 – PTV Drama “Shahzori”
Following photo was taken during the recording days of PTV drama ‘Shahzori’. Shakeel and Neelofer Abbasi.
(8) November 1970 – PTV Drama “khabar hai aane ki”
Following photo is from the sets of PTV drama ‘khabar hai aana ki’. Neelofer Abbasi is accompanied by Zooni Butt in this scene. It is said that Zooni was the most popular model in those days.
(9) May 1971 – PTV Drama “intizar hai un ka”
Seen below are Neelofer Abbasi and Mrs. Nasreen Azhar acting in PTV Drama ‘intizar hai un ka’. Mrs. Nasreen Azhar is wife of Mr. Aslam Azhar who was the General Manager of PTV station, Karachi. At ATP we also had a post on Aslam Azhar and Nasreen Azhar’s son Arieb Azhar. If you missed that post then see here.
(10) Valima of TV Artist Zeenat Yasmeen
This photo was taken on Valima day of TV artist Zeenat Yasmeen (mother of model Iraj Manzoor). Neelofer Abbasi is next to her. In the right hand corner of the photo once can see (late) Ishrat Hashmi who was also a PTV artist. On the left side one can see face of TV actor Parveen Akhtar (later Parveen Khan).
(11) Following two photos were taken during the recording of PTV drama ‘Resham’.
(12) 1970 – Little Master Hanif Mohammad giving award
In this photo legendary cricketer Hanif Mohammad is giving Tyfon award to Neelofer Abbasi. A tyfon executive is standing in the center. Hanif is considered as the first star of Pakistan cricket, the “Little Master” who played the longest innings in Test history – his 970-minute 337 against West Indies in Bridgetown in 1957-58 – which was followed a year later with the highest first-class innings to that point, 499 run out.
(13) Videos of PTV Drama ‘Shahzori’
Episode One can be seen below:
Episodes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28
wow,fantastic drama and great old days come alive.
I remember watching Shehzori as a kid. It was a great drama and one of the first with a strong willed young woman as a central character.
Great memories.
Excellent!
Wonderful pictures!
Since Neelofer was gracious enough to share these precious
memories with us, you think she might be willing to share
her interviews on “Subah-e-nau,” too?
Imagine how much fun it’d be to be able to listen to her
interviews with th likes of Rafi Khawer, and Jamiluddin Aali!
I do hope that Radio Pakistan archived the recordings
of that program.
I had never seen ‘munni baji’ before the photo shared here (2nd photo from top). As I wrote in the quiz post too that I used to listen to her ‘bachon ki dunya’ program on radio on Friday mornings. I knew it was an adult but I thought it was an adult talking in a child’s voice as part of her acting. Later I kept confusing her with ‘munni begum’ of ghazal fame for many years. Finally I grew up to distinguish between the two ladies. But this photo is the first time I’ve seen her.
This is one reason I wrote in the post’s text that these photos are a treasure and a glimpse of our TV/Radio history.
Wow. Amazing collection. Thanks for sharing these here. The black and white photos always seem to be more powerful than today’s color technology. Black and White also means they are a snapshot of our national history.
The quiz was a bit difficult. I couldn’t guess beyond 3 or 4 people.