Aap ab suniye all india radio ka panchrangi program akashwani"…. These were the opening words in 1963 by the first announcer Mrs Farrukh Jaffar when Akashvani went on air in Lucknow ! She is a treasure of memories related to drama, radio and films related to Lucknow. Her recent performance in Peepli Live as Amma is so appreciated by people that she is now referred as 'Amma' a true salute to an artist !
She graduated from the Lucknow University and took up job as announcer at the All India Radio, where she wrote plays for the radio and enacted roles on air in popular narrations called Geeton Bhari Kahani that were a combination of fiction and film songs. For a few years she lived with her family in Delhi when her husband was India correspondent of the Chicago Daily News and The Washington Post. Her love for drama and films that began at the Lucknow radio station, flowered in Delhi. Farrukh joined the Vividh Bharti at Delhi's All India Radio (AIR) and later moved to the Urdu Services of the same broadcasting house. After work she attended workshops held by Ebrahim Alkazi, the most famous director of Delhi's National School of Drama (NSD) and one of the most influential stage director and drama teachers of 20th century Indian theatre. Under Alkazi's direction, Farrukh played the role of the mother in the Urdu translation of Luigi Pirandello's Italian play called Six Characters in Search of an Author, in 1968.
Back in Lucknow, Farrukh's first foray on the silver screen came with Muzaffar Ali's Umrao Jaan where she acted as the mother of Rekha and later she acted in a series of films made by Muzaffar Ali for television like Shawl. She has played in award winning mainstream films like Swades with Shahrukh Khan, in Aamir Khan's Peepli Live, Prakash Jha's Chakravyuh and the Kangana Ranaut starrer Tannu weds Mannu.
One of the most memorable characters of Peepli Live, Amma, is what she is better known as now. Most of the dialogues of her were extempore in the movie ! Today, Farrukh Jaffar's character in the film has become a household name.