BATKHELA: A reformative play, released recently, has presented the true image of Pakhtun culture with special stress on young generation to correct their social behaviour in the light of values and positive traditions.

Malakand Arts Production (MAP), a private production house, has released the Pashto play titled ‘Dardoona’ (the pains). It encouraged local artists to perform positive roles for educating youth through their art.

“The play has been shot in many tourist spots with to attract visitors to the scenic areas of Malakand. The play is being aired on YouTube channel to widen its scope and spectrum,” said Khalid Khan, chief of MAP and producer of the play.

He told this scribe that he had been producing reformative Pashto CD plays for the last 15 years to provide an opportunity to local young talent.

He said that most of the artists had made it to perform on big screen. He said that real social issues were being discussed in the plays to guide people in an artistic manner.

Mr Khan said that his main objective was to produce quality stuff for reformative purposes and so far he had produced around 40 such plays. He claimed that he didn’t glorify drugs, obscene dances and violence in the plays.

The producer said that the cast of his most Pashto plays included local talent like Jahangir Sahil, Naeem Lundkhwary, Ghani Faryadi, Kamran, Ubaid, Sajjad and Mohammad Ali Saba. He said that because of non-availability of female artists in Malakand, he invited popular TV artists and paid them handsomely.

Talking about the script, he said his team duly discussed storyline, dialogues and theme of his play so that no inappropriate words or phrases could find place in it. He said that writers and poets affiliated with Malakand-based Mrstial Leekwaal, a literary body, helped his team in planning his play and also to make it fit for household viewership.

“Senior Pashto writers Bakhtirawan Umarkhel, Prof Iqbal Shakir, Aslam Salik, Nasir Amin and Bacha Saeed advised my team on script writing and overall plan for the plays,” said the producer.

Jahangir Sahil, one of artists in the play, said that he and his colleagues were satisfied with their work and got appreciation from the audience. He said that local artists had no other platform where they could display their talent but MAP provided them with a chance to do quality work and portray a soft image of Pakhtun society.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2019