Tribute to Waheed Murad by SCINOSA (Society for Children in Need of Special Attention) was held for its annual fund-raiser programme, at IVS (Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture). The evening was well-attended by fans of the late superstar and Pakistan’s only Chocolate Hero, Waheed Murad.
The programme started with guests arriving before time in their enthusiasm to not miss a minute of the show. After a bustling red carpet and dinner, the tribute part of the evening began with Fahad Mirza, the brand ambassador for SCINOSA welcoming all the guests. A documentary was shown on SCINOSA, the oldest school of its kind in Pakistan, running since 1960. This was followed by a brief video of SCINOSA’s students performing on Waheed Murad’s popular numbers, with two of them performing live as well on stage.
Junaid Zuberi, CEO of NAPA then took the rostrum to talk about Waheed Murad and also showed video and audio messages by people close to the legend. Beginning with Shaukat Yusuf, in whose movie Murad made his debut as an actor, followed by Sohail Rana, Satish Anand, and Adil Murad, all had interesting anecdotes to share that brought the late super-star back to life for the audience. Usman Butt, a close family friend of Murad was invited on stage to say a few words and sing one song from Murad’s movies.
The formal musical part of the evening then began, hosted by the producer of this segment, Samina Aslam. Twenty-three hit songs from Murad’s movies were performed live by Ameer Ali, Rafay Khan, and Kanwal Fatima, to music provided by five veteran musicians, with Aslam providing the credit details and wherever possible showing the picturization of the song. The audience could be seen elatedly singing along with the singers to the popular numbers selected.
In the end, Aliya Murad who was present in the audience as the chief guest was invited to the stage to share her thoughts on the occasion and to speak about her late father. She read out excerpts from a touching interview given by Waheed Murad in which he mentioned the three women he loved – his mother, wife, and daughter.
The evening ended with the distribution of tokens of appreciation and a vote of thanks by SCINOSA’s honorary secretary, Zulfiqar Ramzi.
It may be noted that SCINOSA is housed in a state-of-the-art, custom-made facility in North Nazimabad. It holds not only regular classes for its students but also provides speech therapy, physiotherapy, and hydro-therapy as development aids, all imparted by trained and caring professionals. Soft vocations such as weaving, tailoring, carpentry, block printing, and cooking are also taught. The children are encouraged to take part in sports, Scouts and Girl Guides, music, and karate, and continue to win medals for Pakistan at games organized by Special Olympics at national and international levels.
