The Colour of My Heart, directed by Umer Riaz, is an Urdu documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 40 minutes. It was released in Pakistan on the 6th of February and isn’t meant just for intellectual people. It is a reimagined and reworked version of his 2018 documentary Some Lover to Some Beloved.
The documentary is based on the life of Zia Mohyeddin, who was a venerated actor and a cultural icon. It portrays both his personal and professional lives in an effective and rousing manner.
As Zia Mohyeddin tries to resurrect the glamour of Urdu poetry and to pass it on to the coming generation, he touches upon the lives of significant Urdu poets such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ghalib, and Arfa Syeda Zehra. He also interviews Faiz’s daughter, Saleema Hashmi, and Moneeza Hashmi, as well as his mentor, Daud Rahbar.
Zia explains the true essence of a ghazal. A Ghazal is not simply poetry, but it addresses the beloved, a beloved that is invisible. The documentary also delves deep into memory and nostalgia. It is about personal longing, history, and selections. Zia married thrice. He married Nahid Siddique, a classical dancer, Azra, and Sarwar.
When the wives were questioned about what Zia was like, each one had a different perspective. Nahid Siddique was afraid of his anger, and Sarwar was tired of his perfectionism. Azra complained of his rigid punctuality. Zia was replete with idiosyncrasies. He was a difficult man to live with. As Sarwar says, even if his tea was a minute late, he would not drink it.
The documentary also focuses on how Lahore has transformed over time, with new developments in infrastructure changing the entire map of Lahore.
The documentary is well directed. The prowess of the film shows through the sounds and visuals selected to depict a particular scene in a gripping and heart-wrenching manner.
Despite the lack of a simple narrative, the film runs a poetic discourse, which grips the viewer’s attention. The film comes across as a celebration of Eastern culture.
Dr. Zehra, a human rights activist and educationist, acts as the narrator and binds together a recollection of Zia’s life. The film is structured into chapters, and Dr. Zehra introduces each chapter to the spectator.
The chapter on Faiz Ahmed Faiz is perhaps the best part of the documentary. His poetry is deep and touches the very soul of the person. Aaj bazaar Mai Papa Jaulan Chalo is the most popular and profound ghazal he has penned. He wrote this after having been imprisoned for 4 years.
The Colour of My Heart is not the story of a hero or villain; it is the story of the common man, who rises from the depths of misery to the pinnacle of success.
Zia Mohyeddin was a rare Pakistani graduate of RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in England. He performed in theatre in The Lawrence of Arabia and A Passage to India. Thereafter, he retired to his homeland. He yearned for his country and its soil. His love for the Urdu language would always pull him towards home. And that is when he started the Zia Mohyeddin show, also called the poor man’s David Frost Show, which put a halo of stardom on his head.
Zia recounts the haunting memories of the terrorist blasts in Pakistan. He shows Pakistan as a dangerous country where chaos ensues, and riots erupt, and cars burn.
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