Anwar Maqsood’s name tends to draw in crowds. The scriptwriter’s wordplay is unparalleled and for years, he has regaled audiences with his wit and incisive political commentaries. A script written by him inevitably ensures high ratings on TV, a phenomenal number of ‘hits’ on the internet and sold-out tickets in the case of theatre. It is this last advantage that thespian group Kopykats Productions, led by Dawar Mehmood, is about to avail. Their latest play, intriguingly titled Kyun Nikala?, has once again been written by Maqsood and has just begun playing in Karachi. According to Dawar, tickets for the first few weeks are already sold out.

“People just love Anwar Maqsood,” says Dawar, “and they line up to buy tickets. In the case of any other play, potential sponsors need to know every nitty-gritty before they come on board, from the cast to the script. But if we are staging an Anwar Maqsood script, they simply sign on as sponsors and corporate shows get pre-booked. That’s the power that he has.”

It’s a power that will probably ensure high profits for Kopykats this time — but has also resulted in losses in the past. Dawar and his team came into the spotlight with their very first play back in 2010 — the hit Pawnay 14 August penned by Maqsood. The group staged five more plays scripted by the writer until he opted to stop working with them three years ago due to creative differences. The next two productions staged by Kopykats met relatively lukewarm responses from audiences and critics alike. The team tried hard but they couldn’t quite master the amalgamation of satire and humour that is quintessential Maqsood.

Anwar Maqsood and Dawar Mehmood join hands once again for Kyun Nikala?

With Kyun Nikala?, though, Anwar has reconciled with Kopykats and the name hints at another contemporaneous political satire. Does the title imply that the story is centered round the political party PML-N? Will the current elections be part of the storyline? Will familiar political personalities be mimicked on stage as has been the case for most of Maqsood’s stage plays so far?

Here’s what to expect

“The play isn’t about PML-N being ousted from political leadership,” elaborates Anwar. “The story is actually about a Bengali servant who has worked for many years in the house of a PML-N minister. At the end of the play, when he gets fired from work, he asks Kyun Nikala? The story is timed from the beginning of this year up till August so, yes, the recent elections are part of the plot. The PML-N minister represents Lahore’s red light area, the Heera Mandi district, and has always won from it. As elections draw closer, all the various political parties begin approaching him, asking him to join them because he is a sure-shot winner. He insists that his loyalty lies with PML-N but then his own party doesn’t give him an electoral ticket and he decides to fight the elections as an independent candidate.”

According to Maqsood, well-known political leaders aren’t seen in the play but the country’s various political players are all there: Sindhi feudals, girls from PTI, NAB and even khalai makhlooq (people from outer space)! “The servant keeps on addressing the audience and when he is asked who he is talking to, he says ‘khalai makhlooq’,” laughs Maqsood.

“I have now been working with Anwar Maqsood for some time now and this time I feel that he’s put all his heart into the script,” professes Dawar. “It really packs in the punches with the dialogues. The PML-N minister is Chaudhry Sahab and his wife’s name is Mehmooda but her pet name is ‘Moodi’. The whole country hates Moodi but not Chaudhry Sahab.”

There’s much more. “Chaudhry Sahab says that he won’t be able to win this time,” elaborates Maqsood, “because all his voters in the red-light area have moved to more posh localities. Some are living in Gulberg, others in Defence. At another point, there is a dialogue where it is said that girls from PTI wear ‘oonchi shalwar aur chhoti kameez’ [high lowers with short shirts] and the reply comes that the religious community does the same!”

Maqsood has, of course, always been deeply interested in local politics and sifting beyond the humour, Kyun Nikala? can be expected to deliver some pointed commentaries. The role of the Bengali servant is being played by Mohsin Ejaz, who was also seen in Kopykats’ earlier play Siachen, while Chaudhry Sahab will be enacted by veteran actor Irfan Khoosat.

“We were skeptical that Irfan Khoosat may not have the energy to endure our grueling rehearsal schedule and his voice may not be able to carry on stage,” says Dawar. “But when he came on stage, we were completely blown away.”

It’s all in the script

Taking centre stage, though, will be the script — as is the case in any Maqsood project. The writer has been observing the play’s rehearsals with a gimlet eye, making sure that the Kopykats team does not deviate from his dialogues. “I stopped working with Dawar and his team when they began altering my script,” says Maqsood. “It’s something that I have never allowed. When I was working on the TV show Loose Talk with Moin Akhtar, my script would include every last detail, from when Moin had to cough to when he had to bang his fist on the table. I would tell Moin that if he felt like coughing before his cue, he would have to stop himself. He always followed my instructions to the tee and I really appreciated that. Even the country’s most established directors — the likes of Shoaib Mansoor and Nasir Hussain — never tampered with my script.

“But these young boys easily changed dialogues and added in unnecessary jokes to my scripts in the past. After writing Siachen for them, I decided to step away from them.”

How is he ensuring that his script remains unaltered this time round? “It’s in our contract this time that the play’s director cannot change the script,” reveals Maqsood. “If he does, I have the right to come on stage and publicly denounce him.”

“We are being very careful this time,” says Dawar. “Anwar frequently sits through our rehearsals and I frequently visit him if I need to discuss a scene or a dialogue. We have sat for hours, working on the details. Hopefully things will go well this time round.”

Kyun Nikala? has just started its tryst in Karachi before it will proceed on to Lahore and then Islamabad. There are also plans to possibly stage the play in Dubai for a few days. “We have taken a few of our plays to Dubai and the response had been phenomenal,” says Dawar. “Maybe, by early next year, we’ll take Kyun Nikala? there as well.”

Published in Dawn, ICON, August 12th, 2018