Kashf Foundation, besides being an organisation that helps people, especially women who have been abandoned or maltreated,to commence business in order to live a healthy and independent life, has turned into a drama production team as well which produces plays based on social issues, majorly which are deliberately not addressed since they are considered taboo.
Recently aired Udaari in which Ahsan Khan played a child molester gained huge success despite remaining a controversial piece throughout which also received warnings from Pemra. Kashf Foundation is all set to release another drama serial which will be discussing themes of prostitution and HIV. People are looking forward to it because of the fact that the highly praised, award-winning play Udaari has been their recent production, and after seeing how well and how dauntlessly the team addressed a sensitive topic like child abuse, that too perpetrated by a step father, people are excited to see how the theme of prostitution will be handled.
However, it must not be ignored that Udaari was not the first play, or the first dark play, presented by Kashf Foundation. The very first play which was released by them was Rehaai having an excellent cast such as Noman Ejaz, Maria Wasti, Danish Taimoor, Saniya Samshad, Samina Peerzada and Munawer Saeed.
The play aired on HUM TV in 2013 and was based on child marriages. Munawer Saeed sells off his daughter to Noman Ejaz who marries the girl and impregnates her because his first wife, Maria Wasti was not able to give birth to a child. Samina Peerzada, Noman Ejaz’s mother who herself had been forced into such marriage keeps opposing her son but fails in stopping him from committing the hideous act. Rehaai was directed by the very talented director of Pakistan, Mehreen Jabbar and had an aura that was even darker than that of Udaari.
Since it was the very first play of the team on such an issue, it did not get as much attention as Udaari but it must be known that Rehaai, a finely directed play and shot in a way in which every dark drama should be shot, was equally heart-throbbing and equally painful to digest. The fact that it was Rehaai which paved the way for bold drama serials like Udaari must not be ignored.
Mehreen Jabbar has been one of the most educated and talented directors of Pakistan, and when Kashf Foundation presented its first play also written by Farhat Ishtiaq, the director chosen for this hard-hitting play was Mehreen Jabbar who showed her artistic skills once again in the best manner possible.