Imran Series is one of the best-selling Urdu spy novels series created by Pakistani writer Ibn-e-Safi. The first novel, Khaufnaak Imarat (The Terrifying Building)[1], was published in October 1955. Early books in the series are complete novels. However, some stories span over two or more books.
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Following the footsteps of the first best-selling series, Jasoosi Dunya, this series features Ali Imran - a playful, yet deceiving personality. He is a bright young Oxford graduate with M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in physics (some novels say it was chemistry). His comical and apparently incompetent persona hides his identity as head of a secret service. This series has been widely acclaimed for its high literary quality and strong character development.
Imran Series explains the workings of a country's Secret Service that operates from the capital of the country (supposed by many to be Karachi in Pakistan which was the capital when initial Imran Series novels were written. Although Ibn-e-Safi was careful to never explicitly state this, villains often refer to the country as the "one from South Asia". The Secret Service is administered by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Sir Sultan, who offers Imran the position as its head after getting personal help from him in "Raat ka Shahzadah" (The Prince of Night - #8).
One of Ibn-e-Safi's distinguished writing qualities include formation and development of characters. He has established characters in such a fashion that they appear to be real and materialized.
Imran Series has a range of diverse, colourful, and sentient characters. Some of the members of secret service include X2 (played by Ali Imran and Tahir aka BlackZero), Juliana Fitzwater, Safdar Saeed, Tanveer Ashraf , Khawar, Chauhan, Nomani , Siddeeque, etc. Imran's family includes his father Karam-Rahman (also mentioned as Abdul Rahman in initial books), mother Amma Bi, and sister Surayya. Imran's escorts include driver/body-guard Joseph Mugunda from Central Africa, cook Sulaiman, and Sulaiman's wife Gul-Rukh.
Now-a-days in new books written by Mazhar Kaleem, names of characters are given below, namely: Tahir/Black Zero, Ali Imran M.Sc. and D.Sc. (oxen), Juliana Fitzwater (Julia), Sualeha, Safdar Saeed, Tanveer Ashraf, Captin Shakeel, Siddeeque, Chauhan, Khawar, Nomani, Captin Babar (in some novels), Tiger (Rizwan), Joseph, Juana, Sulaiman, Sir Sultan etc.
For a detailed account of characters appearing in Imran Series, please visit more links at the bottom of this page.
It began with Khaufnak Imarat (The Fearful Building), and ended with Aakhri Aadmi (The Last Man), unfinished at the time of Ibn-e-Safi's death.
During 1960-1963, while Ibn-e-Safi was suffering from schizophrenia, many amateur writers started posing themselves as Ibn-e-Safi and produced third class copies of his work, distorting the character of not only Ali Imran, but also of Colonel Faridi and Captain Hameed. These acts of vandalism were reported by Ibn-e-Safi himself in the paish-rus (preface) of "Dairh Matwaalay" (One and a Half Amused - #42) (which was the novel he returned with after his recovery). Some writers and publishers still continue to write on Safi's characters, much to the annoyance of many fans. Safi used to mention fans' complaints sometimes in the prefaces, and mocked the fake publishers and writers in his own witty style.
Ibn-e-Safi's writing style can mostly be categorized under mystery fiction (with the exception of a few adventures). Mazhar Kaleem, however, does not rely on mystery but on action-oriented situational twists, with the overall plot of the story revealed in the first few chapters. Ibn-e-Safi's Ali Imran, although highly intelligent, is not a super-human; Kaleem portrays him as a "man of all qualities" and "indestructible".
Some writers who acquired fame by writing their own versions of Imran Series (specially after the death of Ibn-e-Safi) include Mazhar Kaleem, Safdar Shaheen, Ibn-e-Rahat, Mushtaq Ahmed Qureshi, H.Iqbal, Ayne Safi, MA Rahat, MA Sajid, Ibne Kaleem, Azhar Kaleem, M.A PeerzadaIbne Kaleem, S.Qureshi, N-Safi,Nasir Javed, Zaheer Ahmed, Irshad Alaser Jaferi, Syed Ali Hassan Gillani, Ali Nawazish. Mazhar Kaleem is still writing novels and enjoys enough fan-following. He has introduced many new characters in the series. Most fans of Ibn-e-Safi, however, dismiss Kaleem's books, arguing that Kaleem distorted the original 'feel' of the series, and that he deformed the key characteristics of many characters, including Ali Imran. Nevertheless, his novels have a significant readership.