Andaleeb

Directed by Fareed Ahmed. Screenplay & Produced by Rashid Mukhtar. Music: Nisar Bazmi. Lyrics: Kaleem Usmani. Story: Salma Kanwal. Dialogue: A. S. Afaqi. Cast: Shabnam, Waheed Murad, Talish, Aaliya, Mustafa Qureshi, Salma Mumtaz, Ibrahim Nafis, Baby Durdana, Atiya Sharaf, Talat Siddiqui, Rajni, Pandit Shahid, Sultana Iqbal, Khushtar, Meena Chaudhry. 56 (20) Weeks. August 29, 1969

The novel on which this movie is based is a typical specimen of the “women’s novels” genre of Urdu literature that saturated the society in the second half of the twentieth century. By contrast, the director was someone who is best remembered for his tendency to choose offbeat topics and to experiment with themes, subjects and treatment. This combination gives this movie a unique and permanent place in the cultural history of Pakistan as a cinematic documentation of the stuff that dreams were being made of in those days.