November 10, 2002

The IBA plays are getting a trifle boring due to the same old hackneyed themes of boy-meets-girl-and-they-fall-in-love being recycled. But once in a while, a group comes up with a theme that makes you sit up and notice.

This was the case at the Drama Hungama 2002 by the BITS Club held last weekend in which a satire on the popular PTV regional children’s show, Roshan Tara called Kaun Banega Secretary? was executed to perfection.

Baba Allah Bukhsh Wasayo, an aspirant for the local political arena was the focal point of the play and presented a somewhat distorted view of the political games that are played by our feudal lords to gain victory in their respective constituencies.

Hasan Rabbani played the role of Baba Allah Baksh Wasayo well and was so in touch with his character that it was difficult for the audience to differentiate between the two. It landed him the best actor award by the judges for it could not have been any other way. A well-conceived script and witty punchlines did for the play what no other drama could achieve that evening.

As for the rest of the evening’s performances, the same old glitches — such as a bad sound system and off-cue acting — stifled most of the performances. Another redeeming feature of the BITS Club Drama Hungama 2002 was the elegant rendition of Nazia Hasan’s Dil Ki Lagi by Sabeen, assisted just as well on the guitar by Usman. The guy certainly knows his music. IBA Ki Adaalat was a loosely-scripted play in which the campus photographer and canteen contractor were mimicked and called to testify for their crimes. The photographer stood accused of snapping females only while the latter held the reputation of being a Mr Stick-in-the-mud. It had some very good lines, but it’s a pity that the effort was also lost to the din being created by the IBA wallas.

By this time, all the efforts by the managing committee to subdue the audience and to make them hush up literally seemed to fall on deaf ears (no pun intended). Coupled with a bad sound system, the effect was devastating and the long howls in the pitch-dark auditorium (wonder how they expected the judges to write down the scoring) made it seem like one was sitting in the wilderness, surrounded by a pack of howling wolves!

However, the evening wasn’t a total loss, thanks to Baba Wasayo, and the likes of Hassan Rabbani. Some of the other plays, such as Thokarain and Goodluck Shaadi Ghar sadly just could not cut it. And while still at it, the long gaps between performances also appeared most awkward, seriously marring the overall effect of the plays.

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