LAHORE: The 6th Faiz International Festival attracted a large number of visitors, including families, on its last day on Sunday, mainly owing to weekly holiday, exuding more vibrancy and colour.

Though the attendance was thin by 12 noon and even 1pm, the footfall started growing by 2pm and by the evening, Alhamra was packed. There was no place to park cars outside Alhamra’s Gate No 2 as the parking lot was full to the capacity. Many visitors had to park their cars on The Mall and the Egerton Road.

The food stalls, set up in the open area around Hall 1 were also packed. The visitors thoroughly enjoyed the three-day festival while listening to music by both professional and amateur singers, attending different thought-provoking sessions and having fun at the open mic venue by reciting poetry, singing songs or playing music instruments. Many visitors were taking selfies at different venues of the festival to have fond memories of the event that was held after a gap of some two years.

In an interesting session titled ‘Social Responsibility of TV Drama and Haseena Moin’ moderated by Moneeza Hashmi, the panelists Shehnaz Sheikh, Misbah Ishaq and Simi Raheel, drew a comparison between the present-day TV productions and those presented in the ‘golden era’ of the Pakistan Television (PTV).

Haseena Moin’s younger sister Ghazala, sharing her fond memories of the playwright with the audience, said she was a wonderful caring sister and a mother figure to her. She said her death seemed an unending dark night to her.

Actor Shehnaz Sheikh said it was not less than a miracle that Haseena herself called her and offered her the role in her serial Tanhaiyan. She said Haseena used to write weekly the episodes of her serials, keeping in view the weaknesses and strengths of the characters. She said Haseena would not interfere in the work of actors or directors. Her heroines were the doors through which she would project what she had in her mind, Ms Sheikh added.

Misbah Ishaq, actress-turned-director, said she met Haseena during the days of Unkahi, “but in the last two years of her life I really got close to her since we travelled a lot together”. The kind of empowerment Haseena gave to her heroines in her serials 25 years ago showed her vision, Ishaq added.

Veteran actress Seemi Raheel said Haseena used to create characters of her heroines which seemed light, naughty and full of fun, but at the same time powerful. Drawing a comparison between the old PTV plays and present-day stuff, she said that the new writers should think what they were showing to the viewers.

The session ‘Aik Sham Faiz Ahmad Faiz kay Naam’, where legendary Zia Mohyeddin read Faiz’s letters written from the prison and recited his poetry had a jam-packed hall. Because of lack of seats, youngsters were requested to sit around the stage and leave seats for the elderly visitors. Adeel Hashmi moderated the evening. The audience were spell bound as Mr Mohyeddin recited poetry and read out Faiz’s letter he wrote to his wife Alys Faiz during his imprisonment. There was a pin-drop silence in the hall and people were glued to their seats with their eyes focused on the great Zia Mohyeddin.

The rhythmic beating of drums could be heard even outside Alhamra as it was the most well-attended outdoor interactive performance at the festival, also offering some 70 drums to the visitors interested in the musical activity.

In another outdoor performance, young singers paid tributes to late iconic singers Lata Mangeshkar, Madam Nur Jahan and others. They also paid tribute to Faiz by singing his poetry.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2022