Hello, I am Khurram Ali Shafique. I am best known for my work in Iqbal Studies but let me start by telling you about my interest in the subject that has brought us here.
Writing this book has taken me over thirty years – more than the span of my adult life. I was still in school in November 1983 when I heard the news that Waheed Murad has died. The grief I felt was not easy to express and it deepened even more as I witnessed almost the entire society mourning the dead hero for well over a year. It was not an ordinary grief because it repeatedly triggered an extraordinary question: ‘Could Waheed have lived longer if we, the society, had behaved differently?’
In varied words and tones, the same question was presented by a horde of magazines, newspapers, audio cassettes and even books that came out in the months following the untimely death.
This was the backdrop against which I started writing this book – within weeks after the death of Waheed, whom of course I had never met in his lifetime. My opportunities for carrying out the research increased as I grew older but so did my understanding of the deeper meaning of the simple question that had been raised by so many and answered by none.
I wrote several drafts of my story of Waheed only to discard them after completion. Meanwhile, I progressed from being a wannabe author to a well-reputed one. My repertoire increased to include more than 200 articles and papers, and more than thirty books – histories, textbooks, screenplays, Iqbal Studies, literature and much else. I was honoured with a Presidential Iqbal Award – among other awards and recognitions for my work.
That work, it now seems to me, was preparation for writing this book – Waheed Murad: His Life and Our Times – and whatever else I write henceforth will perhaps be its explanation. With pride, humility, joy and gratitude I offer this slim volume of 180 pages and more than a hundred pictures to all who might be interested.