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The French connection
Probably a first in the history of Pakistan, a book on the popular mime culture of France has been produced recently by a Pakistani author, Batool Mahmood. The book launching ceremony, held at the Alliance Francaise, was preceded by a mime show by the famous French mime artist and director of Theatre Mime of Marseilles, Philippe Bizot.
A regular visitor to Karachi since 1999, Bizot has held several workshops in schools and colleges here. The book, ‘Ssshhh. It’s mime time’ is based on his mime performances held at Alliance Francaise during the years 2000-01. Basically a pictorial for children, it comprises a collection of beautiful photographs with brief captions beneath, throwing light on the significance of the body movements and gestures captured in the snapshots.
The first book by Batool Mahmood - although her work has appeared in both local and international newspapers and magazines - this is by no means Batool’s singular attempt to bring the French culture to Karachiites through pictures. Earlier she has held a display of her photographs taken in the South of France. A great admirer of French culture, the writer claims that she was inspired to write the book after watching Bizot’s performances over the past few years.
The performance by Bizot comprising a few short skits, ranging from humorous to poignant threw light on the tremendous talent of this great artist. His mime of picking his nose and then aiming his find at a target had the audience in fits, just as his miming of the action of pushing against a wall, trying to find an escape left everyone touched.
The performance was followed by an address by Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Minister of Finance, who was the chief guest on the occasion. As he himself pointed out, nothing in his qualifications or his portfolio entitled him to be eligible for the task, but he could not convince the charming writer otherwise. Well, maybe it was his sense of humour, not to mention culture that made Mahmood choose him to be the guest of honour. In any case, he gave her and the French mime artist a befitting tribute. — S.R.
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