KARACHI, Aug 14: The fourth and final day of the Shanakht Festival on Tuesday was marked by the screening of a classic film, a storytelling session and a rock concert.

The festival, organised by the Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP), was held at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi.

The 1950s classic film Ishq-i-Laila provided an interesting insight into the cinematic style predominant in the early stages of our film industry.

The storyline and antiquated, exaggerated acting style invited a lot of laughter from the audience, even though it was not meant to be humorous.

Another interesting aspect of the day was the interactive ‘Meri Kahani Meri Zabani,’ event where speakers shared their stories about partition and where the audience asked them questions at the end of the session.

The guests for Independence Day were Admiral (retd) Hasnain, one of founding fathers of the Pakistan Navy, and Nabi Ahmed Khan, police officer in pre-partition Delhi.

They kept the audience captivated in a session which lasted roughly over an hour, as the audience was given a firsthand account of incidents revolving around partition and a personal insight to people responsible for giving us Pakistan, such as Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

The Shanakht Festival concluded with a concert titled ‘Rock Your Shanaakht,’ which saw performances by bands such as Taal Charisma and the Aunty Disco Project as well as Ali Alam and Islamabad-based Zeb and Haniya to a packed auditorium.

Meanwhile, the third day of the festival on Monday featured the screening of two documentaries: Mark Tully’s Face of India, in which he showed the remnants of the British colonial Raj in India, and Stones of the Raj, narrated by noted historian William Dalrymple.

Tully’s film focused on India’s bureaucratic system while the second documentary was more focused on the monuments and the railroad system constructed during the Raj.

However the event that most marked the third day was the Anwar Maqsood and Moin Akhtar stage performance of Loose Talk, their popular television show.

Using Pakistan and the diverse kind of individuals that inhabit it as a theme, the show was a huge hit, inviting laughter and applause from the audience in the fully-packed auditorium.

On popular demand, Moin Akhtar was asked to do an encore performance, which he did, embodying the character of a Bengali man.

They both received a standing ovation at the end of the performance.

They CAP team plan to make the Shanakht Festival an annual event around Independence Day.