PESHAWAR: The people thronged a cinema here to enjoy a Pashto stage show filled with humorous skits and music.

Arranged under the auspices of a private group of local artists and titled Khushalai Da Nawee Kaal, the stage show showcased different aspects of society with an objective to highlight the anomalies of the masses in a humorous manner and how to remove some of the major social evils.

Around 22 performers, including noted film, theatre and TV actors and stand-up comedians, jointly staged the show to welcome the year 2022.

The jubilant youth showed up at the live performance from parts Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including tribal districts to celebrate the advent of the New Year. The tickles for the show were booked at Rs500-Rs2,000 for different categories of seats in the cinema Hall and the full-house two shows per day went successfully, said the chief organiser of the show.

The three-day live performance will conclude today (Sunday).

The performances of Pashto film artists Arbaz and Jahangir Jani with Laila and Salak stole the show as the jubilant audience showered accolades of appreciation on them. The participants rolled with laughter at the performance of stand-up comedian Zardad Bulbul.

Arbaz Khan told Dawn that the participation of the audience in the show was unbelievable despite financial problems and a general gloomy situation in society. He said such events gave great mental relief to the people and that local performers did their best to make the people smile once a month.

“People love to watch out their favourite artists performing live close to their eyes and even could shoot selfies with them,” he said.

Arshad Ali of Swat said as the mercury reached the freezing point in his hometown, he came to Peshawar along with friendson a week-long trip to enjoy sights and sounds.

He said the stage show was filled with skits satirising the follies of the common people.

“Lessons can be drawn from such performances,” he said.

Amin Farhad of Kohat said he and his colleagues not only enjoyed the live performance but also praised artists for spreading the message of peace and social justice through their work.

“I enjoyed the stage show, which had meaningful messages for the people and was delivered in a pleasurable manner,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2022