Afsana (1970)
Cast: Deeba, Waheed Murad, Rozina, Kamal Irani, Nanna, Ragni
Director: Luqman
Music: Nashad
Synopsis: Thoroughly enjoyable, old-fashioned melodrama, vintage Lollywood!
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

The opening shot is of a Burqa-clad beauty praying by her mother’s side in what appears to be very modest surroundings. The mother and daughter sway gently in prayer. At the same time, nearby in a swank sprawling neo-villa, sluttish Rozina awakens to light up her morning fag and prattle about “society” events with Mummy in “modren” English. Worse still, we discover that they are recent converts to Islam and not born of blue blood as it were—two-bit upstarts whom Lady Luck seems to have favoured.

Even that slick dude with the stylish hairdo and the trendy goggles (Waheed Murad) seems to be more interested in goodie two shoes Nahid (Deeba) than the vixen-like rival Ghazala (Rozina). The burqaclad goodie-two-shoes beauty of modest yet pious and upright background wins the debating contest in college. She lifts the trophy for her college while tarty-infatuated rich brat Rozina fumes in envy.

Deeba, the poor, unfortunate and luckless damsel, slaves day and night by peddling home-stitched dolls to make ends meet. She also finds the time to give English lessons to the local children at home. She is a regular little angel even if the gods have thus far frowned upon her, poor lass. Meanwhile, scheming nympho arch-rival Naheed arranges debauched “Saturday Nights” at her palatial residence. She plans to snag the object of her desire, Naser (Waheed Murad), on a forthcoming night. Alas, her hot, tantalising number oozing with burning desire fails to work the magic on Naser. He leaves the party in a huff, pining for the angelic Nahid and despising the smouldering Ghazala.

Later, when evil-spurned Ghazala learns that wedding bells are about to ring for Nahid and Naser, her diabolical hormones go into overdrive as she feverishly plans a murderous revenge. Days later, on a mountain resort trip, the newly wedded Naser and Nahid’s car is met with a ghastly accident and is sent plunging from a rickety bridge to the river lying far below. Poor Nahid suffers paralysis from the waist down while Naser dies, though nobody talks about him.

One fine day in the bustling market, Rozina is prowling for some action when she spots a man who looks strikingly similar to Naser. Overwhelmed by excitement, she grabs her opportunity and cooks up another malicious, deadly scheme, sending her discovery to Nahid’s house, posing as Naser’s cousin. Rozina’s eyes are now on the millions she inherited from her father-in-law, who knew her for ten minutes before bequeathing his entire estate, moments before popping off.

The impostor sets his plan into motion by trying to charm the pants off the doddering elderly mother and angelic, disillusioned and disabled but hugely wealthy daughter Nahid. Slowly, the charm takes effect, and the man gets her on an outdoor trip. Other picnics follow as “love” blossoms, but it is only a matter of time before the unfortunate widow is sent flying off the mountainside in her wheelchair.

But all is not as simple as it appears—it is, after all, a Lollywood film. The plot thickens considerably before reaching its “all-revealing” climax. Will Ghazala get her revenge through the fake cousin, or will Deeba’s angelic charm overcome all? Though the end is relatively easy to predict, there is plenty of fun along the way, with Rozina easily stealing the show with an excellent performance as a super-bitch.

Afsana Though she managed to crossover to making a small dent as a leading lady in Lollywood, Rozina will surely best be remembered for a series of roles she performed like the typical evil, scheming, lusting vamp. She made her mark as Lollywood’s answer to Bollywood’s Shashikala and Bindu. The film is a fun melodrama, with the first third dominated by fun and frolic before settling down to the real dramatics. Afsana is by no means a groundbreaking, brilliant or exceptional film. Yet, it entertains for the most part and accurately reflects the commonly popular values when the film was produced (the late ‘60s). Once again, western values are targeted as evil and debauched while the simple home-grown virtues rule the roost. It is a simple, fairytalelike fable. Still, given a reasonably exciting twist, the audience has to deal with the prospect of having their leading lady marry for a second time in the film—something almost unheard of in the local popular cinema. Deeba looks pretty and acts more than competently in a juicy role for her. Waheed Murad also does well, especially in the part of the less-than-saintly fake cousin. Rozina’s all-to-brief dance at her Saturday Night party is a showstopper, and her passionate, scheming vamp steals the show. Afsana is vintage ‘60s Lollywood—full of intrigue and melodrama with a sprinkling of fun and frolic—pretty much a winning combination and rather enjoyable.