LAHORE - Azad Theatre staged a play ‘Yah Hussain’ for the second consecutive day at Alhmara Hall II, The Mall, on Monday. The play is based on poetry of Punjabi Sufi poet Shah Hussain Faqir popularly known as Madhoo Lal Hussain. Today (Wednesday) is the final day of its staging.
Malik Aslam is the writer and director. The play highlights the thoughts and poetry of Madhoo Lal and also narrated the struggle of revolutionary leader of Dulla Bhatti. The play has been divided into two parts. The first part describes the poetry of Shah Huusain about religious tolerance, peace, love and humanity and the second part is about the revolutionary movement of Dullah Bhatti to create political awareness among the people to be a part of the political process and fight for their rights and justice.
People in the packed to capacity hall appreciated the acting of the cast especially were enthralled to hear live Sufi music played by the musicians. The music in fact was simply mesmerizing.
The play highlighted our society’s plight wherein extremism and sectarianism are spreading because majority of the people are unaware of political process due to the feudalistic and capitalistic systems prevalent in Pakistan.
Malik Aslam talking to The Nation said the play aimed to promote love, tolerance and socio political harmony in the country as well as awareness about the rights of people. “Today in our society the level of tolerance is dropping. People do not like the diversity of our culture and ethnic origins. We do not respect the thoughts of others. Culture of Punjab has changed. We should not forget that we are one nation. We should not divide ourselves in different sects. Through this play we want to create awareness among the people about their rights as citizens of Pakistan. We have merged the present circumstances of our society with the Sufi era,” Aslam said.
“This play gave me the feel of experiencing the era of Shah Hussain. His poetry is amazing and inspiring. I think these types of plays give knowledge to the young generation who like to know about the era and the efforts of these Sufis in promoting peace, tolerance and social harmony in the society,” said Saad Ali, a university student.
The play is a good endeavour by Azad Theatre and is something that should not be missed at any cost.