Syed Shaukat Hussain Rizvi (1914–1999) was a pioneer of the
Pakistani film industry. He was a film director, producer, and editor, and a supporting actor.
Life and career
Early Life and Career
Syed Shaukat Hussain Rizvi was born into a reputed Syed family, in the city of
Azamgarh,
Uttar Pradesh in 1914. His first visit to
Madan Theatres was courtesy of a close relative when he was only a teenager. He began his career as an assistant projectionist in
Calcutta in the early 1930s and gradually learnt enough during this period to earn a job in the editing department of Madan Theatres. Under
Ezra Mir, a brilliant Jew technician at Madan Theatres, he learnt the finer points of the profession and was also taught the basics of filmmaking. So, Rizvi had the best men around him to learn the essentials of cinematic discipline. Shaukat Hussain, a personable and handsome man with a good taste of dressing for various occasions, was noted early and received a huge amount of attention from renowned showmen of the Indian film industry. Famous filmmaker and financier,
Seth Dalsukh M. Pancholi noted him, and brought Rizvi to Lahore from Calcutta, where he edited films such as
Gul Bakavli (1939),
Khazanchi (1941) etc. After editing a few films, he was chosen by Dalsukh Pancholi as the director of their next venture,
Khandaan. Rizvi's
Khandaan, released in 1942, became one of the greatest hits of the era, which provided footing for
Noor Jehan and
Pran, the leading artistes of the film....
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