There are so many good things that are disappearing from Pakistan or, at the very least, becoming too few and far between if they haven’t turned into distant, fading memories yet. They include quality events that depict our indigenous culture. While glamour and fashion have moved centre stage with plenty of buyers - who would have believed that there could be quite so many fashion weeks in Pakistan - there are not too many companies, alas, interested in promoting literature, language and theatre.
Faiz Foundation and Faiz Sahib’s two daughters Moneeza and Saleema continue to strive, in memory of their father and despite daunting road blocks, to keep the taste alive of good quality cultural events. Faiz Ahmad Faiz is a poet, who is well-loved everywhere Urdu poetry is understood, aside from all that he stood for, with a particular reference to the subcontinent.
In our worst low periods in relationship with India, the bond of Faiz’s poetry has never been broken. There is, probably, no artist in India and beyond who would not agree to visit Pakistan on the invitation of the Faiz Foundation, set-up primarily to promote cultural activity.
Last week Lahore was treated to one such event with Naseeruddin Shah, the actor par excellence, who brought two separate theatrical performances based on short stories by Ismat Chughtai on the invitation of Faiz Foundation. The Motley Theatre Group, which has been founded by Naseeruddin Shah and his wife Ratna Pathak, also an accomplished actor, performed to packed halls on both nights and to standing ovations.
Naseeruddin Shah remarked that he had been overwhelmed by the response and affection he received from Lahore and that they were the best audience he had ever performed for to date. Perhaps, it also tells of the unfulfilled quench for such opportunities for the people.
Shah said that he did theatre to pay a tribute to the great writers of the subcontinent and to introduce the new generation to them. The distance between how much the audience enjoyed these plays, based as they were on women’s issues and the behaviour of a male-dominated society towards them, and the inability of the corporate sector to come forward with funding support could not have been greater. Whoever was approached cited one reason or another for not being able to help.
The promotion of Urdu literature and the legacy of writers like Faiz, Manto and Chughtai just does not carry the same appeal as say belly dancers or music concerts. The fundraising that charity organisations do now are also planned around the type of entertainment that the corporate sector finds worthy of interest.
Which is a shame actually given the fact that there is so much thirst for literary events.
There have been two big occasions when, as part of a company which conceives and manages events, we have been able to pull off literary events in Islamabad with astounding success in terms of audience response, but falling way short in financial terms. One was the five-day International Urdu Conference in 2005, which showcased the usage of the beautiful language in different ways apart from the academic sessions and the other was a tribute to Faiz last year to mark his centenary celebrations. There ought to be money marked separately by the corporate sector for literary events, which would boost them so much, apart from keeping our indigenous traditions alive and understood by the new generations. Because, all said and done, there is nothing quite like watching live performances.
All the live performances that we are left with most of the time are the sparring shows on TV talk shows, which do nothing for our equilibrium, our positivity or our education. In fact, on the other hand, they serve as examples on how best to insult, scream, be rude and intolerant. And that’s pretty much what one sees all around on the roads, in offices and homes.
The subliminal messages that can be ingrained through an understanding of literature cannot be overstated. If funding was a little more generously available, then these events could be held more often and with very little entrance charges to enable the bulk of interested people to attend.
People ought to be given more opportunities to cultivate sophisticated tastes too, as opposed to only catwalks. More power to Faiz Foundation in their efforts. Even today, they have a fabulous event at Al-Hamra where two actors from Mumbai are going to present a very Muslim tradition of theatre in pre-partition India called ‘Daastan-Goi’.
Postscript: The entire space that was the domain of the progressives when Pakistan was created in 1947 has now been encroached upon thoroughly. In a changing world, it is fear that is used frequently as a tool to keep people from doing what they want. Reportedly, in a shocking and brazen display of intolerance some people broke into a graveyard for a minority community in Model Town and proceeded to vandalise about a 100 graves last week. It is an extremely sad incident and speaks of how far extremism has crept into our midst.
The writer is a public relations and event management professional based in Islamabad.
Email: tallatazim@yahoo.com
Twitter: @tallatazim.