ISLAMABAD-It was a packed hall at Islamabad PNCA auditorium and volunteers from Citizen Foundation were busy checking and ushering the theatre lovers who had come bracing Islamabad chill to witness, Anwar Maqsood’s “Saadhay 14 August,” a trilogy as Dawar Mehmood, the director of the play aptly called.
It was The Citizen Foundation’s Islamabad chapter who had sold the complete show on their own to collect the proceeds as fund raiser for their projects onwards.
The foundation came into existence in 1995 and looking back on the past 27 years, TCF has many feathers in their cap to be proud of. The foundation, the largest private employer of women is providing life-changing purpose- built schools, both in urban as well as rural slums and perhaps running the largest network of independently run schools in the world according to the “Economist” informed Ms. Asma Rashid Khan, Chairperson Islamabad Chapter while welcoming the guest and giving a bird’s eye view of TCF.
“TCF is proud to share that with continuing support of its donors, it aims to provide education to 280,000 deserving students in 1833 school units all across Pakistan in the year 2023,” she informed the audience in her speech.
It was pleasantly motivating to learn from Ms. Khan that one child’s sponsorship monthly fee is only Rs 2,000 which comes to Rs 24000 for the whole year whereas for educating one child from Kindergarten to 10th grade the magic figure is Rs 260,000, which generous hearts can ponder for a noble cause.
It was time to savour the treat in store as the lights went dim and curtains were drawn.
Adorned in a smartly attired suiting, Mohammad Ali Jinnah along with Mahatma Gandhi, clad in white, the two great leaders of the Indo-Pak are summoned by the court to justify whether the idea of partitioning the sub-continent into two countries was beneficial to the Pakistan and India of today.
In the later change of scene, Gandhi and Jinnah are in Kashmir where there is blood bath between the Hindu’s and Muslims and Anwar Maqsood’s in- between the lines message to the audience is delivered loud and clear. It is always heartening to see even the acts of 1947 partition. It brings out sorrow memories of the past but at the same time also serves as soul-searching of what have we as Pakistanis done not only to our beloved country but as well as to our beloved ancestors who rendered sacrifices and faced immeasurable pain and sufferings as Pakistan came into being.
The discussions between Jinnah and Ghandi move on to Lahore, then to Delhi and finally to London court while sets and scenarios change. Winston Churchill makes an entry and plays his part stretching in more than three to four acts whereas Sindhi Wadera who has fled to London brings in humour to the play. The cast relatively new to Islamabad audience performed well as much of the play time was centered between the two lead characters Jinnah and Gandhi.
The play Saadhay 14 August according to the director Dawar Mehmood is last of the comedy satire penned down by veteran Anwar Maqsood. It started 10 years back with Pawnay Chawdha August, then came Sawa Chawdha August and the finale now being showcased in Islamabad Saadhay 14 August.
Launched to mark the 75 years of Pakistan’s existence, Saadhay 14 August has already been premiered at the Karachi Arts Council with a success record of one hundred shows running over in Karachi.
However, same cannot be said for Islamabad. The play to many in attendance lacked the Anwar Maqsood’s Midas touch – the punch lines, the gags, witticism and flying over the heads one-liners were missing in the one hour fifty minute Saadhay 14 August act.
The first thirty minutes of the play were way too sombre, as if is it really Anwar Maqsood’s script? Then slowly and gradually the laughter takes intermittent spaces to give the audience the Anwar Maqsood they know.
In the last few acts, the director again drifts back into a cowed dialogue delivery execution and A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letter” brings in fresh memories to light where the two characters’ exchange of dialogue captivates the audience without much laughter.