PESHAWAR: Local artistes presented a Pashto theatre play on the themes of patriotism and other pressing social evils and registered an overwhelming impact on audience at the jam-packed Nishtar Hall here.

The play was full of satire, humour and family entertainment.

The Pakhtunkhwa Arts Council (PAC) in collaboration with KP culture directorate conduced a live theatre Pashto play titled ‘ Pa Ma Graan Watana’ (My beloved homeland), which was attended by families and art lovers.

Salma Mahboob, a housewife, said that she enjoyed the theatre play along with her family and kids.

She said that families had very few opportunities in the city for entertainment and leisure. Such events, she said, gave a sense of fast improving peace situation in the province to the people in addition to pleasure and social education.

She said that theatre was a delightful instruction and a powerful medium to pinpoint social evils.

Culture secretary says local artistes being encouraged

Murad Ali Afridi, a resident of Bara, said that the people Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had a great love and respect for their homeland and had always rendered sacrifices for its security and progress.

“Peshawar is not a big city. People need such pleasurable events where they can take their families and children to get fresh and release their tension for some moments,” Mr Afridi commented.

Scriptwriter Sajjad Ali said that the basic theme of the play was to arouse love for homeland among the people to contribute to the development and remove social evils from the country. Stage plays, he observed, were very effective as they had a direct impact on the people to work for the eradication of social evils.

Senior actor Zardad Bulbul, also chief of PAC, on the occasion said that KP had enjoyed a widespread fame for live theatre in the past and produced many noted artistes.

He said that KP theatre could regain its past glory if supported by the provincial government and other stakeholders.

Mr Bulbul said, “Theatre plays should be promoted in the entire province, this way not only art activities would be promoted, but also local artistes and performers would get a platform to present such reformative stuff.”

Directed by Mohammad Ilyas, the Pashto play provided a healthy entertainment to the participants. Actors Tauheedullah Qureshi, Siraj Akbar, Sardar Mareekhi, Nadra Ali, Nadia Khan and Rahim Shahzad performed in the play. Kiran Ali, Parveen Boobi and Raja Khalil also performed well and received a round of applause from the audience.

Tariq Khan, secretary culture and tourism, said on this occasion that the provincial culture directorate had planned 1,600 literary and cultural events across the province to encourage local artistes to promote indigenous heritage.

He said that reformative plays would be encouraged to highlight the grave social issues and pave the way for lasting peace.

Adil Saeed Safi, deputy secretary culture, said that local writers and artistes would also be given a chance to display their talent.

He said that theatre play would be used to educate masses on social problems.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2017