Farooq Qaiser
Farooq Qaiser (Urdu: فاروق قیصر) (born October 31, 1945) in Lahore is a Pakistani artist, newspaper columnist, TV show director, puppeteer, script writer and voice actor. He has also written some comic books.[1] Qaiser is well known for his fictional puppet Uncle Sargam introduced in 1976 in children's television show Kaliyan.[2] Farooq is also a cartoonist, newspaper columnist and writes for the newspaper Daily Nai Baat in Lahore and is famous for his column-writing name Meethay Karelay (English: Sweet Bitter Melon).[3]
Farooq Qaiser | |
|---|---|
 Farooq Qaiser with his puppet Uncle Sargam | |
| Born | Farooq Qaiser October 31, 1945 |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Occupation | Tv director, journalist, puppeteer, writer |
| Known for | Uncle Sargam (creator) |
Early life and education
Farooq Qaiser was born on October 31 to a Muslim family in Lahore, Punjab. In 1970, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts from the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore. Later he received a master's degree in Graphic Arts from Bucharest, Romania in 1976 and also trained for puppetry there.[2] He also received his master's degree in Mass Communication in 1999 from the University of Southern California, School for Communication and Journalism, United States.[1]
Career
Farooq Qaiser started his career in the early 1970s after graduating from the National College of Arts, Lahore, with a short documentary in the English language. In 1971, his teacher Salima Hashmi got him involved in her children's television puppet show Akkar Bakkar. In that show, he worked with Shoaib Hashmi, Muneeza Hashmi and Faiz Ahmad Faiz on the scripts and puppets.[1]
In 1976, Qaiser directed and wrote his own puppet show Kaliyan which became very popular in Pakistan at that time. He created his own fictional puppet characters for that show including Uncle Sargam, Haiga and Maasi Museebte. He also was the voice of Uncle Sargam in that show.[2] He created the character 'Uncle Sargam' in resemblance to his teacher Mohan Lal from Romania.[1]
He also works at Urdu language, Lahore based daily newspaper Daily Nai Baat where he is a cartoonist and makes cartoons daily for the newspaper.[3] He is also a newspaper columnist at the newspaper, Nai Baat and is known by his column-writing pen name Meethay Karelay. He taught for sometime at the Fatima Jinnah Women University in Rawalpindi.
In 2015, Farooq Qaiser served on the Board of Governors at the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, (Lok Virsa) in Islamabad, Pakistan.[4]
Books
Below are some comic books written by Farooq Qaiser :
- Hor Puchho
- Kaalam Galoch
- Meethay Karelay
- Meray Piyaray Allah Mian[1]
Characters
Below is the list of characters and puppeteers created by Farooq Qaiser :
- Uncle Sargam
- Masi Museebatay
- Haiga
- Sharmeeli
- Rola
Television shows
- Kaliyan (1976) – Pakistan Television
- Daak Time (1993) – NTM
- Sargam Sargam (1995) – Pakistan Television
- Siyasi Kaliyan (2010) – Dawn News
- Sargam Back Home (2016– continue) – Pakistan Television
Awards and recognition
- Pride of Performance Award by the President of Pakistan in 1993[1]
References
- "The story of a proud puppeteer". Dawn (newspaper). December 5, 2010. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
- "Paying tribute: After decades, Uncle Sargam remains darling of the crowd". The Express Tribune (newspaper). June 17, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
- "Cartoons by Farooq Qaiser". naibaat.pk website. Archived from the original on April 16, 2013. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
- Farooq Qaiser (member, Board of Governors-Lok Virsa in 2015), Islamabad The Nation (Pakistani newspaper), Published November 11, 2015, Retrieved April 25, 2018