LARKANA: Theatregoers, art lovers and the city’s literati highly applauded the sixth play of the Theatre Festival 2025 titled Bhalari bhaag tunhinja at open air theatre in Arts Council of Pakistan on Wednesday night.

Ayoub Gaad, senior director and story writer, had authored the drama which attracted a large lively audience. People reacted to best performance of actors by clapping and applause.

This was the sixth play in the festival which would showcase a total of 10 plays in 10 days. The event was being organised by the Arts Council of Pakistan Larkana in collaboration with the Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi.

The play featured performances by senior TV and stage artists, including Haider Qadri, Amjad Gul, Sindhiya, Ali Moazzam and Saeed Tunio, all showcasing the best of their acting skills. The story revolved around the head of a “burger family”, Saeed Tunio, whose daughter Sindhiya returned home after completing her studies at university.

Household servant, Piroo (played by Haider Qadri), and her cousin Amjad Gul fall in love with her and publicly propose her. However, Sindhiya keeps reassuring both without making a commitment.

Saeed Tunio is portrayed as a miser who doesn’t even pay the servant properly for vegetables. He tries to pressure his daughter into marrying her cousin Amjad, but she despises him. She actually likes the servant but hesitates to express her feelings.

Eventually, her father tells her that she is free to marry whomever she wishes. Both suitors continue trying to get closer to Sindhiya through jokes and humorous antics. One day, she returns with a university friend and tells her father that she has married him.

The news shocks both the servants and the cousin, causing them to faint. Sindhiya then confesses to her father that it was all an act, staged only to get rid of the two suitors. She had not actually married the friend.

When asked whom she will marry, Sindhiya declares that she wishes to marry the servant because she genuinely likes him, and eventually, she does. Thus, the drama reaches its conclusion.

Before the drama began, several guests were invited to come on stage and were presented Ajraks. They included Dr Ehsan Danish, secretary of Sindhi Language Authority; renowned researcher and writer Dr Bashir Ahmed Shad; Prof Rizwan Gul, principal of Commerce College and Niaz Hussain Abro, chairman of Larkana City Alliance. Chairman of Folk Heritage Committee of the Arts Council Karachi, Dr Ayub Shaikh, and the chairman of Music Committee, Amjad Hussain Shah, were guests in the open air theatre.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2025