IN MEMORIAM A Man Of A Thousand Avatars.

It was sometime in the middle of 2006, when the first indigenous Hindi film was under production in the UAE. The situation required a saintly looking person to lip sync to a hamd (hymn) rendered by singer/composer Adnan Sami Khan. Subsequently, the most senior actor from Pakistan was called upon.

The producer, of Indian origin, complained about his experience concerning the so-called 'attitudes' of actors from Pakistan. When the veteran in question arrived for the shoot, in order to show his true character, he politely declined his payment at the end of the day. 'Just remember that a Pakistani worked in your film for free,' was his only reply.

The movie titled Rehguzar was Dubai television's serial-maker Faruq Masudi's directorial debut, and the hamd, Allah Hu, was filmed in the desert area of Dubai. The actor whose kind gesture won over all and sundry was none other than the legendary Muhammad Qavi Khan.

Actors such as Qavi Khan are born once in a century. Every film industry has one such actor who excels in doing difficult roles that come his way. Bollywood had the veteran Pran, Hollywood had Anthony Quinn, while Pakistan had Qavi Khan throughout the '70s and the '80s.

With over 250 films, hundreds of TV plays and thousands of stage performances under his belt, Muhammad Qavi Khan, who passed away March 5, defined an era of Pakistani acting

Qavi Khan could easily mould his personality according to the requirements of the filmmaker. With Allaudin and Talish graduating to character roles, the skinny boy from Peshawar came of age and did roles that required maximum flexing of acting muscles. Equally good as a protagonist and an antagonist, Qavi remained unrecognisable as the father of the lead characters, despite being only in his 30s.

Qavi was at ease while performing - he would transform into his characters seamlessly and his body language and facial expressions all fell in sync, whether he was playing a friend to a much-senior Muhammad Ali or a year junior to veteran actor Nadeem (Qavi played his roommate in 1970's Baazi, became his father in 1972's Ehsaas, was his elder brother in 1973's Nadaan and returned to play his father, after getting into the skin of the character, in 1977's Sachchai).

The same stood true with Waheed Murad (Naag Mani/Mulaqaat) and Shahid (Pyaasa/Purdah Na Uthao) where Qavi convincingly played the friend and the father. One would be surprised to see the range of characters he played in films: feudal baron, peasant...