Mahlia S. Lon
There’s a rich tradition of passing down a craft from generation to generation in most cultures; a collective consciousness that we inherit as well as a diffused learning that we unconsciously pick up growing up in a specific environment, apart from the more obvious one of being taught at our elders’ knees. Many young people rebel and want to go in a different direction from their forefathers, which is their choice, but there are others who choose to carry on in the family tradition. How do they put the stamp of their own individuality on the family business per se is the question we pose to two young men in this issue. Ahad Raza Mir, starring in his first feature film Parwaaz Hai Junoon, tells us how being the son of actor Asif Raza Mir and grandson of Raza Mir, director and Pakistan’s first cinematographer, helps him get his foot in the door but his professionalism is ultimately what helps him prove himself. In a similar vein, Talha Batla got his LLB in the hopes of being a corporate lawyer, but the tug of the family business pulled him in. He is the fourth generation at the helm of heritage brand Halal Silk, his great grandfather having started the business in 1949. Talha tells us how he is maintaining the company’s strengths and loyal clientele while adding his contemporary spin via a new fashion line.
There’s always a moral to all our stories. Hope you enjoy these and other features we have prepared for you!
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