Footprints: When Lee became Jinnah

CHRISTOPHER Lee worked in more than 200 films, including huge box-office hits like the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Star Wars instalments. So, why did he consider his role in Jinnah as Jinnah his favourite, given that the biopic could not rake in enough money or get critical acclaim as much as, let’s say, Gandhi did? Lee, who passed away on June 7 aged 93, in an interview once said, “It was certainly the most important role I have ever played because the responsibility on my shoulders was immense.”
He always weighed his words before uttering them; therefore the word responsibility is key here, so is the word shoulders, because it puts a distinguished film critic’s opinion into perspective that Lee was an actor of “muscular intelligence”. He knew his responsibilities as a performer, as someone whose duty it was to reflect life through (his) art.
To shoot Jinnah, directed by Jamil Dehalvi, Lee landed in Karachi in the late 1990s. It did not take him long to realise what he was in for. There were things outside of his acting domain that he needed to withstand. He witnessed all the hoopla surrounding him, a Brit who shot to fame by playing Count Dracula on celluloid, being cast in the role of the founder of the nation Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Some of the newspapers (in those days television news channels hadn’t burgeoned into the kind of media juggernauts that we these days see on a daily basis) ran a nasty campaign against him for unjustly getting the part that should’ve been, in their view, played by a Pakistani. There were even reports that Lee received death threats during the course of the film. But it did not deter him one bit.
He was an accomplished artist, and was in Pakistan to play one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century, someone he admired. He knew it wouldn’t be a walk in the park. The Pakistani media was hostile, Pakistani film buffs boisterous. So concentration was of the utmost importance. And concentrate he did.

Distinguished actor Talat Husain played the role of a refugee in Jinnah. He, like all those who have had the opportunity to work alongside Lee, has nothing but praise for the actor and the way he carried himself. “He was amazed by Karachi. He liked being here. We went to many places for shooting but the one distinct memory that I have of him is of the time when we were doing a scene near the dried up Hub River. Lee had fever. I think it was the second or third day of shooting. We were required to give single shots. It was my turn. Lee came to me and said he would cue me in to say my lines. I said he needed to rest up, he had fever. He replied there should be someone to [correctly] respond to your [Talat’s] expressions. I again requested that he should have some rest. “Are you sure?” he still wanted to help me out with the scene. Anyhow, he left when I convinced him that the shots could be managed, and we arranged for someone of his height to provide me with the cues,” recalls Husain.
“Lee was a perceptive individual. When he met actor Shakeel (Liaquat Ali Khan in Jinnah) he noticed the mark on his forehead caused by sajdahs during the namaz. He asked him, “Are you a practising Muslim?” He knew about everything and the good thing about it was that he had no airs,” says Husain.
One of the Pakistani make-up artists Ahmed who was in the Jinnah team concurs with Husain, “We shot at places like Frere Hall, old Clifton and Denso Hall, mostly Frere Hall. It was a wonderful experience working with Lee. He treated us like his children. He didn’t talk much though. The one thing that stood out for me about the actor was that whenever he would find the time, he would watch video footage of the Quaid-i-Azam’s speeches in his hotel room. During make-up, he would sit quietly, calm and composed, and let us do our job.”
When Lee died, the entire showbiz fraternity in the world felt the loss. Condolence messages poured in through the media. The last one was from actor Johnny Depp with whom Lee had done a few films in recent times. The adjectives Depp used to describe his friend and colleague were “noble” and “gallant” — two adjectives that also best described Jinnah.