LAHORE: Senior theatre professional Qaiser Javed regrets the decline in quality of stage plays and wants revival of decent and socially meaningful theatre for which he is going to launch a training institute in the city for those desiring to become stage, television and film actors.

Qaiser Javed entered the scintillating world of theatre in late 70s and worked as an assistant director and then director with the likes of Kamal Ahmed Rizvi, Moeen Akhtar, Irfan Khusat, Munawar Saeed and Shafi Muhammad.

In a chit chat with Dawn, Javed said that his institute -- QJ Performing Arts Studio -- to be inaugurated next week, would offer a three-month short course in acting for the mediums of theater, film and television.

He recalled the medium’s glory days of the 80s and the mannerism of artistes, before it was plagued by racy dialogues and suggestive dances.

Qaiser Javed’s journey into theatre started from Lahore, his birth place. He made his debut in 1978 as an assistant to actor Munna Lahori, who was then directing ‘Visa- Passport’ staged at the Open Air Theatre in Bagh-e-Jinnah. In 1979, he assisted another play for children -- Jin Bhaie Jaan -- which was staged at the Fortress Stadium, Joyland. He got associated with theatre director late Nazir Zaighum and did many plays with him as an assistant director. After 1994, he became a panel director at the Board of Punjab Council of Arts. Later, he directed many plays independently such as Sitamgar Teray Liye, Ishq-e-Kainaat, High Jump, Ishq Kay Musafir and Nizam Saqqa.

Among those he worked with, he rates Moeen Akhtar and Shafi Muhammad high as thorough professionals. Remembering late Moeen, he said he was a very jolly person and would create a lot of fun backstage.

Recalling a play, Aap Ki Khatir, he did with Shafi, he said he was among those artistes who were very punctual and was also a great storyteller. “He would tell stories of his childhood and that of Karachi in such an interesting manner that we all used to get lost into those stories”.

“I have worked with many towering personalities. The theatre of 70s and 80s used to be decent and socially meaningful, but now theatre’s language has changed.”

He regretted that today’s commercial theatre had degenerated into a low-brow medium marked by racy dialogues and suggestive dances.

“That’s why I am opening a studio where I could teach young, upcoming boys and girls the real mannerism of theatre, film and television, so that they could understand the very essence of such media,” he said.

Acting, he said, was all about reliving many lives. “Theater was the most effective medium to educate a society and the same holds true for film and television. It’s the vision and the thought process [of director] that brings out a bad or a good production,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2021