April 29, 2007

The Indo-Pak Panj Pani Theatre Festival has evolved, over the years, as much more than just an attempt to foster cross-border cultural exchange between the two countries. Only into its fourth year, the festival has already emerged as a forum for debate, focusing on some of the most sensitive and stubborn social and cultural dilemmas that have plagued life for centuries in the region.

Organized by Ajoka under the initiative of the All Punjab Performing Arts Network, (APPAN), the fourth Panj Pani Theatre Festival, themed ‘Reinterpreting History,’ took place between April 18 to 23 at Lahore’s Alhamra Complex, sending vibes across Punjab’s audiences with its strong social orientation, and what is being blissfully termed by many as a “revival of meaningful, message-oriented theatre in the country — thanks to Madeeha Gauhar and Shahid Nadeem.” Of the 16 plays staged during the six-day festival, half the performances were given by theatre groups from Indian Punjab. Outstanding among the plays from across the border were Andar Bahar Manto, Tukay Pay Tukka, Kahan Kabir, Pinjar and Terrorist Di Pramika.

Pinjar and Terrorist Di Pramika were, particularly, two of the extremely forceful performances submerged in emotional intensity and social meaningfulness. Based on a famous novel by Indian literary icon Amrita Pritam, Pinjar is the story of a woman victimised and sacrificed at the altar of religious beliefs and social mores. Revolving around the theme of how women are used as pawns to avenge male honour, the play highlights the predicament of a Hindo woman, Puro, who is kidnapped by a Muslim man, Rashid, on the eve of her marriage.

Rashid wants to avenge the ordeal of an aunt who was victimised at the hands of Puro’s uncle. Managing to escape from Rashid’s custody, a breathless and terrorised Puro reaches her home, only to learn that there is no place for her anymore, as her abduction has stigmatised her and her family — the latter being pressurised by social norms to throw her out of the house.

Having nowhere to go, a dejected Puro returns to her abductor, who marries her and treats her well. She spends the rest of her life witnessing women becoming mentally deranged due to male atrocities, and missing her Hindu fiancé and her family. The play is packed with some very strong scenes that help get the message across to the audience quite effectively. Dialogues are forcefully written, while the theme song helps strengthen the message. Rajinder Rozy did a wonderful job as Puro, while the acting of Madavi Kataria as Puro’s mother was also highly commendable.

Terrorist Di Premika was written and directed by Pali Bhupinder Singh, and can easily be rated as the best performance of the festival. It unveils what real terrorism is, and sets into perspective the true meaning of who a terrorist is, one of today’s most misunderstood and misused terms. Hinging its philosophy on the premise that “a terrorist is a person who diffuses terror among people,” the play shows how a police officer, Dev, and his team, supposedly assigned to fight terrorism, inflict terror for five consecutive days on the beloved of a wanted terrorist, within the confines of their police station by torturing, raping and eventually killing her, and then, hanging her from the ceiling, to disguise her murder as suicide.

Five years later the terrorist, who Dev had claimed to have killed earlier in an encounter in order to bag the prize money and be promoted, walks into DSP Dev’s house to avenge the killing of his beloved and takes Dev’s newlywed wife, Aneet, hostage. But inside the man dubbed a ‘terrorist’ lies a soft-hearted soul who inflicts no harm on Dev’s wife, despite the fact that she offers to sacrifice her life to save her husband’s and asks the terrorist to take her life instead. Her repeated pleadings and arguments to spare her husband’s life bear some fruit and the terrorist leaves the house without killing Dev.

Later, when Dev’s corrupt nature leads him to suspect his wife’s relations with the terrorist, he beats her up, torturing her and confesses to having killed the terrorist’s beloved. The terrorist who had spared Dev’s life is arrested and must be killed by Dev, as according to records he is already dead.

Realising that the true terrorist lies in her husband and not the man who had come to kill him, Aneet poisons Dev, putting an end to his saga of terrorism. All the characters in the 105-minute performance were played very professionally by amateur artistes. The acting skills of Kumar Ajay as Dev, and Sachin Kohli as the terrorist were particularly remarkable.

The open air plays — staged in the fashion of street theatre — at the festival managed to make an impression of their own. Four open air performances were made in all, and each one of them targeted an important social issue, starting from the atrocities of brick kiln owners and the plight of bonded labour, to trade unionism and the exploitation of workers by capitalists, to the crime of luring children into anti-social and criminal activities.

Halla Bol, an Indian play, was well performed by Ajoka. Written by Safdar Hashmi, a leading theatre activist of India, attacked and killed while performing the same street play in an industrial area of Delhi, it projects the image of revolutionary workers ridiculed as surkhas. The play shows how the activities of these workers play a positive role in helping create a just society. But even the poor think that a working class activist is good for nothing, as he makes no more money than his fellow workers. The police try to prevent the factory workers from staging a radical play in the area, as it might trigger a revolt. It is evident that the play is extremely close to reality and points in the right direction.

A panel discussion on this year’s theme was also held during the festival. Writers and directors from across the border expressed the need to reinterpret Indo-Pak history. It was pointed out that differences in the interpretation of history by people on the two sides of the border have been exploited by vested interests on both sides. Despite sharing a common history, heroes of one side became villains of the other. In the years following partition, political ideologues distorted history to an extent that humanity witnessed one of the worst communal riots of the present times. It was suggested that on the 60th anniversary of partition, we should pledge to remove the distortions and misrepresentations of history.

Ajoka, besides other local theatrical groups, gave some inspiring indoor performances as well. Dukh Darya, Bullah, Saayae and Burqavaganza drew large audiences and were widely admired for their themes and presentation. Written by Shahid Nadeem and directed by Madeeha Gauhar, Dukh Darya is based on a true story of a Kashmiri girl tormented for being infertile and forced to jump into the river dividing the two Kashmirs. Surviving and ending up on the other side of the border, Shehnaz is arrested, interrogated and raped. She gets pregnant and gives birth to a boy in Jammu jail. When released and repatriated, Shehnaz learns that she cannot take her child with her back to Pakistan, as he is an Indian citizen with an Indian father.

The play, however, is much more than an isolated presentation of Shehnaz’s story, as it focuses on the suffering of all women during and after partition, tracing back women’s distresses to the river of sorrow that erupted out of the events following partition.

Saayae was staged by the Lahore Arts Council as an adaptation of Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author. The play handled a serious topic in an effective and light manner, aptly depicting the fine blend of Izhar Kazi’s and Salman Shahid’s vivid styles.

Ajoka, with the collaboration of two Indian groups — Rang Manch Rang and Rang Vidusak — would soon be projecting the heroes of independence through their performances to mark the 150th anniversary of the War of Independence of 1857.

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