Maajhi Naiya Dhoondhe Kinara Yunus Parvez - Beete Hue Din

1. Maajhi Naiya Dhoondhe Kinara Yunus Parvez - Beete Hue Din Cinema has had a relationship with theatre from its infancy. In particular, the foundation of the talkies was based on theatres. Many masters of yesteryears like Master Nisaar, Jahanara Kajjan, Sohrab Modi, Prithviraj Kapoor, Balraj Sahni, A K Hangal, Sanjeev Kumar to other numerous actors-actresses like Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Amol Palekar and today’s Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte have all entered films from the theatre world and made a name for themselves. One such artist was character actor Yunus Parvez who was a familiar face in Hindi cinema for over three decades from 1970s to 1990s. In stark contrast to his screen image, Yunus Parvez was a highly educated and extremely intelligent personality who was also active for a short period in the field of politics. I met him in the middle of February 2004 at his residence in Mumbai’s western suburb, Mira Road’s Naya Nagar area. His house, incidentally, happened to be situated at a mere one and a half kilometer from my own residence. During this interview, taken for my column Kya Bhooloon Kya Yaad Karoon for Sahara Samay weekly, he talked at length about his personal and professional life. “At Allahabad university I got the opportunity to learn from noted educationists like Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Dr Raahi Masoom Raza and Firaaq Gorakhpuri. During this period, I also got associated with theatre and parallel to my acquiring the BA and MA degrees in Urdu, I started participating whole heartedly in the college plays.” Belonging to Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur area, Yunus Parvez was born on 10 August 1936 in Mirzapur. His father worked for the police force. Due to his father’s frequent transfers every two to three years, Yunus Parvez completed his school education from many towns and cities of East Uttar Pradesh after which he came down to Allahabad for his higher studies. During our conversation, he told me, “At Allahabad university I got the opportunity to learn

2. from noted educationists like Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Dr Raahi Masoom Raza and Firaaq Gorakhpuri. During this period, I also got associated with theatre and parallel to my acquiring the BA and MA degrees in Urdu, I started participating whole heartedly in the college plays.” "After completing my MA, I started preparing for my PhD. At that time, I went to Delhi for a few days to meet famous actor Dewan Virendranath. Dewan Virendranath was the paternal uncle of actor Kabir Bedi. One evening, Virendranath ji took me to Russian embassy for a party where I got introduced to famous theatre personalities Begum Qudsia Zaidi, Habib Tanvir, Mime Artist Irshad Panjtan and Writer-poet Niaz Haider. I had won Utttar Pradesh’s Best Actor award the same year..." Yunus Parvez while representing his college in university’s ‘Intercity Youth Festival’ won the prestigious ‘Best Actor’ award for three consecutive years. His photos and interviews were published in the newspapers regularly due to which he became well known as a theatre enthusiast. He told us, “After completing my MA, I started preparing for my PhD. At that time, I went to Delhi for a few days to meet famous actor Dewan Virendranath. Dewan Virendranath was the paternal uncle of actor Kabir Bedi. One evening, Virendranath ji took me to Russian embassy for a party where I got introduced to famous theatre personalities Begum Qudsia Zaidi, Habib Tanvir, Mime Artist Irshad Panjtan and Writer-poet Niaz Haider. I had won Utttar Pradesh’s Best Actor award the same year and they were all already familiar with my work. On their suggestion I dropped my idea of pursuing a PhD and joined Begum Qudsia Zaidi’s ‘Hindustani Theatre’. This incident took place in 1959.” He recalled, “Top politicians like Pt Nehru, Dr Zakir Hussain, Krishna Menon and S K Patil used to often visit to see our preparations for various plays. After the successful screening of a play there used to be a party organized at the Prime Minister’s house. On one occasion, the then president, Dr Rajendra Prasad had even kept the screening of our play ‘Shakuntala’ in honour of Egypt’s President Nasser.” Yunus Parvez also had a deep interest in politics in addition to Acting. He was active in politics during his college days as well. He told us, “In the year 1984, Sunil Dutt fought his first election. Having entered active politics, he invited me too and I took the membership of Congress. But due to some special reasons, I was forced to leave Congress to join Samajwadi Party. I even fought the 1998 Lok Sabha Elections on their ticket after which I returned back to Congress. My family consists of my wife, one son and three daughters. My son Arshad Khan is a film director while all my daughters are well settled after marriage.” Yunus Parvez passed away at his Mira Road residence at the age of 71 on 11 February 2007 due to complications arising out of his uncontrolled diabetes.