Shaukat Thanvi
Shaukat Thanvi (February 2, 1904 – May 4, 1963) was an essayist, columnist, novelist, short story writer, broadcaster, playwright, sketch writer, and poet, but he was primarily a humorist, and an unmistakable streak of humour can be found in almost all of his writings. Muhammad Umer was his real name, and his father’s name was Siddique Ahmed.
Early Life and Education
Shaukat Thanvi was born on February 2, 1904, in Vrindavan, Mathura district, Uttar Pradesh, British India. Thana Bhawan, a small town in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district (now Shamli district), was Thanvi’s ancestral hometown and possibly the source of his last name, though Professor Mushtaq Azmi suggests that he chose the name Thanvi because he admired the Islamic scholar Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi.
He received very little formal education.
Career
Shaukat Thanvi began working for the Urdu-language daily Hamdam in Lucknow, British India, in 1928 and went on to work for various other Urdu newspapers. After that, he became a writer and broadcaster for Lucknow’s radio station, which was founded in 1938. At the radio station, he primarily hosted humorous talk shows.
Thanvi joined Lahore’s Pancholi Art Pictures as a story and songwriter in 1943, at the advice of Syed Imtiyaz Ali Taj. Pancholi Art Pictures closed down after Pakistan’s independence in 1947, and Shaukat Thanvi joined Radio Pakistan in Lahore. Shaukat Thanvi joined the Daily Jang newspaper in 1957 and began writing a humour column called “Vaghaira Vaghaira,” which later became popular.
Marriage
Contrary to popular misconception, he was not married to Pakistani television actress Arsh Muneer. He did, however, marry twice, to Saeeda Khatoon and Zohra Begum.
Literary Works
Shaukat Thanvi was a prolific writer who wrote over sixty books, including short story collections, humorous essays, dramas, and novels. He was also a poet, and Guharistan is a compilation of his poems from his early career.
Among his notable works are:
- Saudeshi Rail (Native Train)
- Sheesh Mahal
Saudeshi Rail is an imaginative description of what happened to the railways when India’s independence movement was successful. The play imagines a newly independent country managed by inept and careless bureaucrats, ending in a comedy of errors and complete catastrophe. It was his mocking way of reminding the countrymen that we did not deserve independence because of our poor managerial abilities and work ethics, and that if the foreign rulers went, we would be at the mercy of those who couldn’t even operate a train correctly, let alone the entire country.
Awards
On March 23, 1963, Thanvi received the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz Award from the President of Pakistan.
Death
Thanvi was buried in Lahore’s Miani Sahib Graveyard, which is located in front of Radio Pakistan, following his death on May 4, 1963.