KARACHI: The theatrical version of writer Haseena Moin’s famous TV play Ankahi which was to be shown at the Arts Council on March 15 but was put off because of the pandemic, will now be staged on Oct 20. This was announced at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Speaking on the occasion president of the council Ahmed Shah said the drama was to start its run in March, but then the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to activities. It had become difficult to tell when life would again become normal. Now when the [virus] cases have come down in our region and the government has allowed events with SOPs, director of the play Dawar Mehmood again got in touch with the council to do the play.

Mehmood said his team had already done rehearsals for three months and the play was about to be launched when Covid-19 hit us. But “the show must go on”, so now the play will be staged on Oct 20.

He emphasised that it’s not the old Ankahi; instead it’s called Ankahi 2020, a tribute by his production company to Ms Moin (who had penned the play in the early 1980s for PTV). It has 11 actors taking part in it.

Ms Moin said the play was written more than 30 years back. In order to give a message to the new generation that we need to spread love not hatred, Mehmood has adapted the story as per today’s requirements. She hoped that the stage production would be just as successful as its original version.

Writer of Ankahi 2020 Sajid Hasan said Ms Moin is a legendary writer whose dramas, when they ran on TV, had such a profound impact on viewers that there would be no traffic on roads [because everybody would be watching them]. He claimed that he had kept the ‘elements’ of the [original] play intact and stressed the media that they shouldn’t make comparison of the stage production to the TV play.

Co-writer Saqib Sameer said working with Sajid Hasan benefitted him in two ways: one, he worked alongside him; two, he got to learn from him.

Actress Amna Ilyas, who will essay the central character of Sana Murad, said there will be 25 to 30 changes in the play — there are dances, fighting sequences, songs, laughter and cries etc. Since the team has gone through an extensive rehearsal session, all of them have an idea “what it’s going to look like”.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2020