KARACHI: Taking the immortal verses of Allama Iqbal’s Shikwa and Jawab-i-Shikwa written more than a century ago and presenting it on stage is a daunting task and on Sunday, the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) took up this uphill battle and in turn had the audience transfixed and mesmerised from start to finish.

The lament of man in Shikwa (the complaint), and God’s response to it in Jawab-i-Shikwa, has been the subject of relentless study and contention among poetry lovers, the literati, academics, and of course in religious circles.

Addressing the audience, Ustad Nafees Ahmed, also the director, shared his sorrow at the lack of awareness of Iqbal’s work among the younger generation, and dedicated the evening to them.

“This is a first attempt to collaborate with both seasoned musicians and young singers and we hope that it is not the last of its kind. We hope to entrust the upcoming generations with this treasure so that it is not lost forever.”

The format of the show included adapting several verses of shikayat from Shikwa which were sung by different students of Napa. Relevant responses to these verses were then extracted from Jawab-i-Shikwa and Arshad Mehmood was responsible for the rebuttal, for providing the answer to man’s complaints in the way that Iqbal envisioned God would respond.

The lament of man at the strangeness of the world he inhabits and the intangible aspects of faith God expects him to blindly believe, was narrated to the audience. Napa students were tasked with this task and a total of six singers came to narrate Iqbal’s verses from Shikwa, with the help of an orchestra several members of which had come from Lahore.

All of a sudden the stage would then be enveloped in darkness, and the orchestra would fall silent. Then Mehmood would step up to the role of responding with verses from the Jawab-i-Shikwa.

The narration of the two opposing sides did not come close in terms of quality of delivery. Mehmood’s quiet determination and mastery over the language brought Iqbal’s verses to life. The students however, many a times fumbled over their lines and there were moments that they lost track of the verses. In fact, the text at times became too big for the students to handle. However, on the whole the production was a winner. A clear departure from the usual musical productions Napa hosts, Shikwa and Jawab-i-Shikwa should be further tuned and perfected. The audience should be allowed several more chances to experience the magic that was offered at the closing night of Napa’s International Theatre & Music Festival.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2017