LAHORE: After success of its new play ‘Uddan Haaray’ at the National History Museum and Alhamra, Ajoka will perform this poignant tale of love set in the times of Partition on Tuesday (today) on the second day of the Forman Literature Festival being held at the FCC University.

Written and directed by Shahid Nadeem, the play is based on a true account of the events happening in a princely state of Punjab, recorded by the National History Museum’s oral history project.

The play revolves around the friendship between a young boy and a girl, intertwined with the story of two pigeons named Raja and Rani. This is also a story of great betrayal by the maharaja of the state, who was trusted by all communities.

After successful premiere at the Greater Iqbal Park, the play was performed at Alhamra this weekend and was dedicated to Ajoka’s founder and known theatre icon late Madeeha Gauhar on her 5th death anniversary.

Before the performances at Alhamra, a documentary on Madeeha’s contribution to theatre was also screened. Madeeha’s sister Feryal Gauhar, son Nirvaan and other family members were also present. Her college teachers Mira Phalibus and Perin Boga also attended the event.

The main cast of the play includes Naseem Abbas, Sarfraz Ansari, Qaisar Khan, Shehzad Sadiq, Usman Zia, Omar Bhatti and Kanwal Khan. Other actors include Rabil Butt, Luke Kelvin, Nyle Imtiaz, Rai Ali, Fizza Tirmazi and Anish Khan, while Kanwal Christopher and Anika Malik are the singers.

Ajoka Executive Director Shahid Nadeem acknowledged the support of the Babar Ali Foundation and the Citizens Archive and collaboration by the Lahore Arts Council for the project.

He said Ajoka is holding year-long activities to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the theatre group’s foundation, including an international theatre festival, a documentary, exhibitions and a book on Ajoka.

He also revealed that Ajoka’s new YouTube channel, Ajoka Vision, has received encouraging response and the number of its subscribers has crossed 1,000 mark.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2023