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M. Ismail, was a resident of the Inner Bhati Gate in Lahore. Well built and fair complexioned, Ismail had blue eyes, and was quite. attractive. Mian Abdul Rasheed Kardar (the famous A. R. Kardar), also belonged to the same area in Lahore. M. Ismail used to work as a golden calligrapher, while Kardar was involved in sketching and illustration.
They went to Bombay in 1927, and according to Ismail, he and Kardar played Kaedo and side hero respectively, in Imperial Company’s Heer Ranjha. But conditions weren’t helpful, and the two young men had to return to Lahore. Fortunately, for them, during 1928, Premier Film Company started a film called Daughters of Today. Both Kardar and Ismail were inducted into the cast, but the film remained incomplete.
Later, Kardar learned production and became well known as a brilliant technician. Kardar established his own film making firm in 1930, called United Players Corporation, and cast Ismail in his early silent movies like Mysterious Eagle a. k. a Husn Ka Daku, which also had Kardar in a central role. Others in the cast were Gulzar Begum, Ghulam Qadir, Ahmed Deen and an American actress, Aeris Crawford. Ismail also acted in Kardar’s film, Safdar Jang, and both these early silent films were very successful. This led Kardar to cast him in Shepherd King (Gadarya) and Golden Dagger (Sunehri Khanjar). In those days, every film used to have an English title and an Urdu one.
After Alam Ara opened the way for talkies, Ismail became even more popular. In Kardar’s Hoor e Punjab, an adaptation of Heer Ranjha, Ismail again played Kaedo, the intriguing ice uncle of Heer, which he repeated yet again later, in film Heer Siyal, with his characteristic style. His other films in India include Alif Laila, Dekha Jaega, Mast Faqeer, Raja Gopi Chand, Prem Pujari, Watan Parast, Sohni Mahiwal, Laila Majnoon, Zamindar and others. In 1948, M. Ismail came to Pakistan, and immediately got offers from seniors like Nazir, whose films, Pherey, Larey, Anokhi Dastan and Shehri Babu included him in their cast. Observing his work, another promising and experienced director, Anwar Kamal Pasha offered him some good roles. His films, Ghulam, Gumnam, Qatil, Inteqam and others were the earliest hits of Pakistan. Luqman also cast him in Patan, and Mehbooba was another one that was appreciated.
Similarly Nazeer Ajmeri’s Qismat and Paigham, Munshi Dil’s Hasrat and Ishq e Laila and S. M. Dar’s Saltanat and Dulla Bhatti were also amongst his famous movies. His other films were Darwaza, Subah Kaheen Sham Kaheen, Patey Khan, Piya Milan Kee Aas, Jameela, Bara Aadmi, Zehr e Ishq and many others. The Late M. Ismail was a charming person, with a rural simplicity and a very forgiving disposition. Endearingly called Bhaiyyajee in the industry, M. Ismail’s roles of good hearted, forgetful, careless and sometimes cynical man were the best that he did. But, in many films, he performed a perfect villainish role, including the earlier mentioned, Hoor e Punjab, which had a historic role of Kaedoo. This one was only bettered later, by that most sterling artiste, Ajmal, who made Kaedo legendary with his gestures in Khwaja Khurshid Anwar’s Heer Ranjha. In Yamla Jat and Khazanchi, in India, he did very fine title roles, while K. Asif’s Phool portrayed him as an old hakeem from Turkey, which he did to perfection. As a villain in Indian film, Wamiq Azra, he presented an individual style, with his full facial expressions. By full facial expressions, I mean that most artistes use the eyes and the forehead, but M. Ismail, with a tremendous mobility of his motor mouth, his sagging cheeks and his prominent and protruding jowls, used a tremendous expanse of his face, which aided him in doing old men’s roles very early in his career. In those days, there was much importance of finding a characteristic face for films and not handsome or beautiful faces, which is the trend today. That was the reason that more such fine artistes were available to the screen. In Nazeer Ajmeri’s Qismat, he played a unique role of a man, who is too forgetful to even remember his own name. It was a most hilarious performance from a truly talented actor of his times. M. Ismail got a Presidential Award for this role in Qismat.
Died: 22 November 1975, Lahore, Pakistan
M. Ismail, was a resident of the Inner Bhati Gate in Lahore. Well built and fair complexioned, Ismail had blue eyes, and was quite. attractive. Mian Abdul Rasheed Kardar (the famous A. R. Kardar), also belonged to the same area in Lahore. M. Ismail used to work as a golden calligrapher, while Kardar was involved in sketching and illustration.
They went to Bombay in 1927, and according to Ismail, he and Kardar played Kaedo and side hero respectively, in Imperial Company’s Heer Ranjha. But conditions weren’t helpful, and the two young men had to return to Lahore. Fortunately, for them, during 1928, Premier Film Company started a film called Daughters of Today. Both Kardar and Ismail were inducted into the cast, but the film remained incomplete.
Later, Kardar learned production and became well known as a brilliant technician. Kardar established his own film making firm in 1930, called United Players Corporation, and cast Ismail in his early silent movies like Mysterious Eagle a. k. a Husn Ka Daku, which also had Kardar in a central role. Others in the cast were Gulzar Begum, Ghulam Qadir, Ahmed Deen and an American actress, Aeris Crawford. Ismail also acted in Kardar’s film, Safdar Jang, and both these early silent films were very successful. This led Kardar to cast him in Shepherd King (Gadarya) and Golden Dagger (Sunehri Khanjar). In those days, every film used to have an English title and an Urdu one.
After Alam Ara opened the way for talkies, Ismail became even more popular. In Kardar’s Hoor e Punjab, an adaptation of Heer Ranjha, Ismail again played Kaedo, the intriguing ice uncle of Heer, which he repeated yet again later, in film Heer Siyal, with his characteristic style. His other films in India include Alif Laila, Dekha Jaega, Mast Faqeer, Raja Gopi Chand, Prem Pujari, Watan Parast, Sohni Mahiwal, Laila Majnoon, Zamindar and others. In 1948, M. Ismail came to Pakistan, and immediately got offers from seniors like Nazir, whose films, Pherey, Larey, Anokhi Dastan and Shehri Babu included him in their cast. Observing his work, another promising and experienced director, Anwar Kamal Pasha offered him some good roles. His films, Ghulam, Gumnam, Qatil, Inteqam and others were the earliest hits of Pakistan. Luqman also cast him in Patan, and Mehbooba was another one that was appreciated.
Similarly Nazeer Ajmeri’s Qismat and Paigham, Munshi Dil’s Hasrat and Ishq e Laila and S. M. Dar’s Saltanat and Dulla Bhatti were also amongst his famous movies. His other films were Darwaza, Subah Kaheen Sham Kaheen, Patey Khan, Piya Milan Kee Aas, Jameela, Bara Aadmi, Zehr e Ishq and many others. The Late M. Ismail was a charming person, with a rural simplicity and a very forgiving disposition. Endearingly called Bhaiyyajee in the industry, M. Ismail’s roles of good hearted, forgetful, careless and sometimes cynical man were the best that he did. But, in many films, he performed a perfect villainish role, including the earlier mentioned, Hoor e Punjab, which had a historic role of Kaedoo. This one was only bettered later, by that most sterling artiste, Ajmal, who made Kaedo legendary with his gestures in Khwaja Khurshid Anwar’s Heer Ranjha. In Yamla Jat and Khazanchi, in India, he did very fine title roles, while K. Asif’s Phool portrayed him as an old hakeem from Turkey, which he did to perfection. As a villain in Indian film, Wamiq Azra, he presented an individual style, with his full facial expressions. By full facial expressions, I mean that most artistes use the eyes and the forehead, but M. Ismail, with a tremendous mobility of his motor mouth, his sagging cheeks and his prominent and protruding jowls, used a tremendous expanse of his face, which aided him in doing old men’s roles very early in his career. In those days, there was much importance of finding a characteristic face for films and not handsome or beautiful faces, which is the trend today. That was the reason that more such fine artistes were available to the screen. In Nazeer Ajmeri’s Qismat, he played a unique role of a man, who is too forgetful to even remember his own name. It was a most hilarious performance from a truly talented actor of his times. M. Ismail got a Presidential Award for this role in Qismat.
Died: 22 November 1975, Lahore, Pakistan
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