A revival of radio

Set in a warehouse in the Commune Artist Colony, K’la (“Art” in Hindi) performed its first ever play Tihai to an interesting mix of an audience: the event was attended by both those well known and working within the media industry and students of the Indus valley and their friends. The play had been written by Omar Kasmani and had been co-directed by Omar Kasmani himself, as well as Amean J. The cast and crew included Natasha Mukarram, Ali Hayat Rizvi, Rubab Paracha, Arsalan-ul-Haq, Amna Iqbal, Amean J., Imran Khan, Yousuf Bashir, Mansoor Wahab, Leena Naqvi, Marvi Mazhar and Rabia Ashfaque.

There were three showings of the play, one of which had been scheduled at the last moment, and all three of them started relatively on time. The set was simple, with transitions between different acts being done by alternate lighting. The event started with Omar Kasmani giving a brief introduction of the group and the play. K’la was formed as a result of a group of individuals meeting every weekend to share literature and art, and seeks a revival of drama on radio. This was clearly apparent as the play concentrated more on the script, its rendition and expression within the voice rather than on the visual aspect of body language and facial expression. Although, it must be mentioned that the actors did not entirely fail in that department, but there seemed to be more concentration on how the play ‘sounded’ rather than how it ‘looked’.

The play centered around three stories of different genres: Sartaj nahi Maharaj: breakfast with a family, Platform number three: the final dialogue and Meri pyari Su: a monologue, letter from a friend. Well written, the transitions between the different stories within the play had been cleverly done.

Sartaj nahi Maharaj centered round a typical early morning breakfast table with a family comprising of both parents and a son, with a little bit of satire thrown in. Natasha Mukarram played the typical mother, fussing over her son, her husband, the breakfast, the neighbours, the chickens*— yes, apparently this family had half a dozen chickens* running around the house. She displayed all of the attributes of an irritated housewife with ease. Ali Hayat Rizvi displayed a maturity in his acting that easily made him stand out from amongst the rest of the cast. Playing the role of the father, the timing of his dialogues matched his facial expressions to perfection. Arsalan-ul-haq, playing the role of the eleven year old son, was entertaining to say the least, however, his acting lacked the subtlety apparent in that of the other actors.

With the family tuning in to listen to a radio drama, the second story, Platform No 3, begins with Omar Akhtar performing an original piece Nazar, composed by himself, on his acoustic guitar. A story of two estranged individuals, Platform comprised confessions of a college infatuation by Sarah, played by Amna Iqbal to an arrogant Asad—intent on leaving—played by Amean J. Throughout their conversation, Sarah seems reluctant to let go of what happened, or rather what did not happen, between Asad and herself with Asad focused on moving ahead with his life, preferring to leave the past behind. Natasha Mokarram delivered well in terms of clarity of speech and expression, but her timing was a bit off. Holding an open folder with papers stacked in it, one wondered whether Amean was carrying his script around or whether that was just a prop meant to compliment the role of Asad as the lawyer, the role that seemed to come naturally to him.

Finding ourselves back with the family around the breakfast table, the third story Meri pyari Su, is introduced as a letter mistakenly delivered to the wrong house and is read by Imran Khan, dressed in a full black veil, playing the role of Su’s childhood friend. The letter is about the adventures of two friends, their many loves and their many marriages. Read in a manner similar to that in old, sub-continental movies and punctuated by giggles that invited laughter from the audience, Imran khan delivered the punch lines in the letter to perfection. The audience loved him; and after the satirical humor in the first and the seriousness in the second act, Meri pyari Su proved to be the perfect ending to a pleasant evening.

Although in the first showing, the sound system fell short of delivering clarity of speech, it was a pleasure to see that this problem had been rectified in the second and third showing. For a first performance that was sold out within two days of its announcement, K’la did well and as a group, seem to hold promise. Omar Kasmani, on naming the group K’la says, “We do not want to restrict ourselves when it comes to theatre. We have a lot of other skills. I have a background in classical dance, Amean is a photographer, there are other people who have theatre background, someone can sing and so on. Our objective was to keep such a generic name so we could fit in all kinds of performances. K'la is a result of that thought”.

*chickens was supposed to be "chics", it got edited to "chickens" somehow.

First Published:
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May 28th, 2006