ISLAMABAD: Emotions are always part of an author’s tools. That is what distinguishes poets and fiction writers from non-fiction writers and scientists.

A novel or an epic poem and also a theatre play can often present reality better, said Haseena Moin at a session titled ‘Making Them Laugh and Cry’ at the Islamabad Literature Festival on Friday.

“But it must be done with decency. Today I feel we often cross the line and then we may play with emotions and feelings. And that is wrong. We should always remember that laughter and tears are emotions that are near each other,” she added, and then gave examples of lighter literature used to transmit difficult messages in fields like family planning, acceptance of handicapped persons, blasphemy and more.

“Writers have a special responsibility in society, and if they are indeed part of the society, they must help keep values intact and, when they want change to take place, they must also do it in a respectful way,” she said.

A member in the audience, Khaleeda Babree, recalled with pleasure some of her theatre plays, written a while ago, but cherished by young and old when repeated on TV. She mentioned ‘Uncle Urfi’ and ‘Ankahi’ as examples.

The other panelist speaking in a session chaired by Khursheed Hyder, was Shahid Nadeem, a successful yet controversial author, especially of theatre plays.

He stressed that “satirical literature is essential, and in a country like ours, it is particularly important. We must use humour and satire in order to convey difficult messages, to hold up a mirror to people and reveal when there are double standards and when things are ridiculous”.

“Charlie Chaplin did that, too, and he paid a price for it since many didn’t like his opinions,” he said.

“He was a master in showing that satire and humour make us laugh on the outside, but cry on the inside.”

“It is always important to make your audience relax so that they don’t feel you are telling them what they should think. In any case, messages must engage the audience,” said Shahid Nadeem. From a seat in the audience, his wife, Madiha Nadeem, who is the director of the Ajoka Theatre Group, said that we shouldn’t be so concerned about control and censorship.

“Let people write what they want to write, even if we don’t agree with them, and even if it sometimes may be vulgar,” said Madiha Nadeem.

Another member in the audience, Anila Ansari, a Pakistani who is a broadcaster in Scotland, said she agreed with that and she was of the opinion that we should engage more people, especially the youth, to take part in public discourse.

She also thought that comedy for its own sake, even without educational and other messages, was important.

“Humour and satire must be part of it so that we can open up and talk about issues that people find important,” she said.

A European member in the audience said that it wasn’t only in Pakistan that satire was needed to portray societal issues. The speakers then said that it was indeed important everywhere. Shahid Nadeem gave an example of a play he had written about all the contradictions in the Iraq war, which had been shown in America, and an official told him that all the American diplomats should see it.

Concluding the session, which went quite a bit over time, it was agreed that nothing is as serious as humour and satire, and that we should consider lighter literature as important.

Haseena Moin stressed that in order to reach a larger audience, there were two important corner stones, notably romance and humour.

“Yes, comedy is important, but I think we must not become too loose and light, and we will still be able to have a wide readership and wide TV audience,” she added.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2015

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