KARACHI: There was a certain group of thinkers and writers in the 20th century who were preoccupied with the theme of boredom and an individual’s struggle to find his place in society. Existentialists are an important example of it. It seems that the 21st century has sexuality as one of the core issues of life that artists, especially representing the performing arts, want to investigate.

The play Jhanjar Di Puanwaan Chhankaar, directed by Kanwal and Sarmad Khoosat, on Saturday tackled sexuality as its subject, and the good thing about it was that despite having the loudness of tone that the actors were required to adopt, the subtlety of the message was not compromised.

When the curtains are drawn Hamza (Zain Afzal) is seen in his rented flat talking to his mother, Rubina (Samiya Mumtaz), on the phone. He is trying to persuade her not to visit him. The phone call is disturbed by the noise coming from Hamza’s next-door apartment. It turns out that the neighbour is a flamboyant character named Zaman (Sarmad Khoosat). He, uninvited, comes into Hamza’s flat for a cup of coffee and strikes up a conversation. Soon, Zaman finds out that Hamza cannot see. But Hamza is not bogged down by his disability and wants to pursue a career in music.

Zaman tells him that the noise that disturbed Hamza was of music to which he was practising to dance for a role in the film. He is an actor. The part that he is playing in the movie is of a man who is obsessed with the Punjabi film heroine Anjuman, and is so taken with her that even starts to wear clothes, and dance, like her.

Zaman and Hamza hit it off. So much so that Hamza requests him to dance in front of him. Zaman, after dressing up like a woman, does that.

Half way through the story, Rubina visits the flat to discover that her son Hamza is getting chummy with this chap called Zaman. She is a pushy, domineering woman who wants her blind 28-year-old son to live with her. This is where the conflict of the play gets heightened.

Jhanjar is a story of non-acceptability in society of certain things that are related to an individual’s life. The characters, during the course of the play, try and make things move in the direction where acceptability is achieved. And they succeed by using a few metaphors, one of which is that of the butterfly.

The actors’ hard work paid off on Saturday when the packed hall of the Arts Council resonated with thunderous applause and jovial cheers every time they found the performers do something likable. Sarmad’s dance act in particular was generously appreciated.

But equal credit for the play’s success goes to its writers Saeed Rahman and Fatima Maan. Their ‘inspired’ Urdu version of Leonard Gershe’s Butterflies Are Free is perceptively penned effort because it has the right amount of humour, emotion and empathy for the characters.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2018