Shaukat Thanvi


Shaukat Thanvi was a Pakistani journalist, essayist, columnist, novelist, short story writer, broadcaster, playwright, humorist and poet.

Early life

Shaukat Thanvi was born in Bandraban, Mathura district, Uttar Pradesh, British India, on 2 February 1904. Thana Bhawan, a small town in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, was Thanvi's ancestral hometown and possibly the source of his last name, though Professor Mushtaq Azmi suggests that he adopted the name Thanvi because of his affection for the Islamic scholar Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi.

Career

Shaukat Thanvi had little formal schooling. Starting in 1928, he started working for an Urdu-language newspaper Hamdam from Lucknow, British India and continued working for several other Urdu newspapers.
Then he joined the radio station in Lucknow as a writer and a broadcaster after it was first established in 1938. He was doing mainly humorous talk shows at the radio station.
At the suggestion of Syed Imtiyaz Ali Taj, Thanvi joined Lahore's Pancholi Art Pictures as a story and songwriter in 1943. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, Pancholi Art Pictures closed down and Shaukat Thanvi joined Radio Pakistan in Lahore. In 1957, Shaukat Thanvi joined the Daily Jang newspaper and started writing a humor column in it called "Vaghaira Vaghaira", which later became very popular among the Pakistani public.

Marriage

He was not married to the Pakistani television actress Arsh Muneer, contrary to popular belief. However, he was married twice, to Saeeda Khatoon and Zohra Begum.

Literary works

Thanvi was a prolific writer and penned some sixty books, which include collections of short stories and humorous essays, plays and novels. He was also a poet; a collection of his poetry called Guharistan was published early in his career.
His notable works include:
He died on 4 May 1963 and was buried in the Miani Sahib Graveyard, Lahore, which is located in front of Radio Pakistan.

Filmography