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The complete festival
This year, at the World Performing Arts Festival held in Lahore and arranged by the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop from November 27 to December 7, the Indians made a sweeping victory with 260 artistes out of the 600 present. The plays they brought along spoke of variety and quality.
With Amir Khan’s arrival for fundraising and a host of famous Indian artistes already there a week before, Lahore was already seeing a lot happening. And with film added to this year’s dance, theatre, puppetry and music, there’s little left to be imagined what’s in for 2005. For a bunch of philistines, this probably didn’t augur well.
From those who made headlines and had request repeats were Uzbekistan’s Sonata dance ensemble, Germany’s The Ultimate Act (theatre) and India’s list of plays including Neena Gupta’s Sooriya Ke Antim Se, Nissar Allana’s Mahabharat and Erendra; Dance like a Man starring Lillete Dubey and MTV host Suchitra Pillay, and Begum Jaan and Sandhaye Chhayae with Nadira and Juhi Babbar (Indian actor Raj Babbar’s daughter) taking centre-stage. Most of the artistes interviewed backstage said they had made some improvization in their respective acts. The German stage comedians had their hilarious script changed for some more fun and it ran a packed show.
Amid tight security, the crowds kept pouring in, picking up strength at the music ‘nites’. Sufi nite went away quietly on the first performing day and was given a second chance at the closing ceremony on December 7. Fuzon was not as impressive on the Jazz nite as Luigi Cinque from Italy. Luigi played an amalgam of Aboriginal, African, Arabian and Italian folk music. But the crowds were expecting some real excitement and they got to see it on pop night with Strings, and with Junoon on rock nite.
Swiss violinist Tobius Huber of 1001, attending the festival for the second time, played the violin with background tablas and harmonium. So did Indian violinist, Anupriya Roy, who developed a good wavelength with the Pakistani tabla nawaz.
The Arabian music and dance nite featured Fathy Salama from Egypt, Karima Nayat and Abdelli, Algerian musicians along with Tobius who had earlier performed at the Folk nite. The concert opened with a Bulgarian band churning out some entertaining music. They earned applause for bringing together taps, chimes, violin and the tambourine, besides local instruments such as rhythm, guitar, bass and drums. Though the band did not quite fit into the category, the musicians from Eastern Europe had the audience foot-tapping. Another Jazz concert began with a lazy trumpet intro that was later accompanied with an accordion and hollow drums. Norwegian singer Solveig Sletthjel sang the famous classic, Moon River and Time After Time. Though she was skillful, Moon River, was not sung in its actual soft-beat composition. The second half of the concert was performed by The Real Thing and the old men jazzed up the night in typical Broadway fashion by playing non-stop.
The dance mood was overwhelmingly classical and folk. Shyama Saiyid had one Kathak show based on Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s renditions, which she cut short. According to the organizers, she was nervous. Shyama had come from Canada to perform in Lahore, where she has been pursuing dance full time. Her presence in the festival was refreshing among veterans Fasihur Rehman, Sheema Kirmani and Naheed Siddiqui. From across the border, Debabrata and Mishti Banerjee, the Creative Dance Troupe from Calcutta, put up an absorbing performance. It could best be described as intimate, unclouded and lucid. Sheema, as usual, had a packed show. Tehreema Mitha’s classical was different from the traditional Bharatnatyam. While adhering strictly to the Kalakeshetra technique and framework, she used North Indian music in accompaniment to the South Asian dance form. Moving away from Hindu Mythology, she imbued her choreography with the universal themes of love and lore.
The best thing about the festival was that dance, music and the other forms were not compartmentalized. Erindra and her Heartless Grandmother had dance, music and colour all combined. The director told the story of Erindra thus: “It is about how an innocent girl, an illegitimate child, is prostituted by her heartless grandmother. The play can be seen as an extended metaphor — Erindra is the ravaged country and her lovers are the politicians who have defiled her.”
Mahabharat was a bit difficult on those who had not seen the epic earlier. Sonnu Sirajuddin, Professor of English, when asked to comment on the play, said, “It was a remarkable performance, very athletic. It had drawn on a whole wealth of mythology, and not just Hindu mythology. I doubt it that many people in Lahore have seen such a consummate performance, where voice, movement and language come together.”
Among the other artistes who were talk of the town, Nadira and Juhi Babbar of Ekjute Theatre came to perform two plays. Begum Jaan was going great with the audience till there were some dialogues negating the creation of Pakistan. Nadira, in the end, had to seek an apology from upset viewers. Her second play, Sandhay Chhayae was on lonesome parents and the fast-changing traditions of the East. The play was executed very well but dragged after a point. Most of the people did not return after intermission.
There was so much happening at times in the two halls and five camps that some good ones had to be missed at the expense of others. With puppetry and film going on in different camps in the afternoon, parents left their children to attend the famous puppet shows Calliope Puppets (USA), Hands Puppet Theatre (Russia) and Trule Puppet of Portugal while they watched a film of their taste. Our very own Uncle Sargam and Magic Paint Brush had a unique touch, much appreciated by kids. The films varied from pre-partition to those screened at the London Film Festival this year. Anita and Me and Bloody Sunday with a towering performance by James Nesbitt, to the Spanish Intacto and Khamosh Pani were all selected carefully to bring in a larger audience.
The last day of the festival saw Mahesh Bhatt along with his Lollywood find, Meera, discussing issues of Pakistani cinema. Said Mahesh: “You don’t know how to use your talent. We used two voices from here in Murder which went on to have record sales.”
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