KARACHI: Impressive performances and lack of a gripping subject define Dhaani. The 75-minute long play leaves you with a feeling similar to one felt after an unsatiating meal.

What makes it worse is the theme which seems more preachy than inspiring; a husband is having an affair with a gori but it turns out it’s just the imagination of the wife and her neighbour. At the end, much to the audience’s surprise, there is no gori (referred to as the frock wali larki).

Written by Aamra Alam and Imrana Maqsood, the play revolves around the story of two housewives – Rashida played by Sarwat Gillani and Ruqqaya played by Sanam Saeed – who are friends as well as foes. The two neighbours, just like India and Pakistan, argue, celebrate and share their woes. Besides the typical jealous housewife antics, there is hardly anything in the story itself to keep the audience intrigued.

Dhaani, produced by Lollwood actor Shaan, is a well-performed play which tries hard to make a point but doesn’t quite succeed. Instead, it leaves the audience in fits of laughter.

Ruqqaya is relatively well-off, a trait reflected by her home’s luxurious interior, while Rashida has a less sophisticated life style. The latter, with her firangi mindset, ends up filling Ruqqaya’s head with baseless ideas that her husband is cheating on her with a “frock wali larki” and the whole narrative centres on that. Unfortunately, the play lacks a much-needed closure as there is no explanation about what really became of the frock wali larki.

Unlike the ups and downs present in any narrative, Dhaani maintains a flat line on its cardiogram throughout the play. This seems to be a general problem new playwrights face when they attempt to write original theatre plays. But it was a shock to see a seasoned writer like Maqsood, conform to the same mistake.

Despite the apparent flaws in the storyline, it was Sanam and Sarwat (primarily) who made Dhaani worth the watch. Sanam’s unimpressive performance in Zindagi Gulzar Hai suggested that being expressive wasn’t her forte but her performance in Dhaani has proved her acting prowess; it was a huge leap forward for her and speaks bundles of the untapped expression range and versatility she possesses.

Although Sanam’s performance was strong, it was Sarwat who stole the show. Sanam was forgettable when she stood next to Sarwat, a dynamic, marvelous and full-of-life actor. Sanam’s acting fell flat at times, next to the bubbly character of Sarwat whose stage presence, dialogue delivery and movement justified her character’s jealous personality perfectly.

Rashida’s mother (played by Sundus Tariq) and Fayyaz chacha (played by Kamal Hussain) added bits of humour also but ended up being a little irritating. The classical dance moves attempted by Sanam and Sarwat came off as a little half-hearted and didn’t really add anything to the play but more time.

Dhaani’s director Umar Sultan also needs to be given credit for bringing on stage the picture-perfect chemistry between the two lead actors which single-handedly drove the entire play as well as for pulling it off despite issues in the storyline.

A word of advice: Writers and directors should know that despite their anger at post-colonial stereotypes, revisiting those themes reaffirms that we haven’t quite moved on. Sanam and Sarwat try to pull it off with subtlety – the disagreements and fights between Pakistan and India by the arguments their characters have – the director still underestimates the maturity of the audience and felt the need to directly force the message in through a voice-over at the end. “300 saal pehley bhi yehi frock wali maim ayi thi”.

Verdict: Watch it for Sarwat’s stellar performance but don’t go if you’re looking for an engaging story. Despite lack of substance, hook or adequate ending, the script has powerful and humourous one-liners.

Dhaani will be on at the Arts Council till May 30 and the ticket is priced at Rs1,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2013.

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Written by Indian playwright Javed Siddiqui, Aapki Soniya is a sequel to Tumhari Amrita, a well-received play in India which involved veteran actors Shabana Azmi and Farooq Shaikh.

At the presser held to announce the schedule for Aapki Soniya, actor-turned-director Alyy Khan was present with the actors of the play, Sajid Hasan and Mehwish Hayat, at Southend Club. The play will be performed at the club from June 14 and is expected to continue for 17 days. After Karachi, the play is expected to be performed in major cities of the country.

Aapki Soniya was first performed in India in 2005, starring Bollywood actor Sonali Bendre along with Shaikh. Khan’s rendition brings Hasan back to the theatre stage years after he left working in theatre plays.

Sharing her experience of working in theatres, Bendre’s counterpart in the reprisal, Hayat said, “Theatre has always been a test for me; be it working with a younger cast in a musical or with seasoned actors like Sajid and a perfectionists like Alyy.” Hayat seemed optimistic about the audience turnover at the play and said that she hopes the audience will appreciate the efforts put in by the cast and crew in producing Aapki Soniya.

Hasan said he owes the revival of theatre culture in Karachi to veteran writer and lyricist Anwar Maqsood. “The success of Anwar sahib’s plays has given us the confidence to fasten our seatbelts and get ready to perform on stage.”

“I must appreciate the efforts of Karachi Arts Council in reviving theatre and giving a chance to young and old actors to experiment with this medium,” continued Hasan. He added that an alternate space like Southend Club could be used if other spaces are booked or if there is unrest in the city.

Director of the romantic play, Khan opened the press conference by taking the audiences down memory lane. He revealed that he started professional acting when he was only nine years old.

He also spoke about projects he has lined up for the Pakistani television industry. “I work for television because I have a family to feed,” said Khan, adding that theatre is where his heart is, even after spending more than three decades in the television and film industry. “Theatre is what runs in my blood; you can literally call it my holy grail,” he said.

Khan believes that directors are lucky if they find actors who can do something as labour-intensive and complicated as the medium of theatre. He expressed contentment in finding the right combination of experience and beauty in Hasan and Hayat. “You get spoiled when you work for TV, as you have a number of assistants running around for you. On the contrary, it’s never the case when it comes to theatre,” he elaborated. “The onus is on you and that is why the aura of spending hours with your co-actors in a closed rehearsal space with no intrusions is larger than life.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2013.

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From classically trained traditional singers to hardcore rock vocalists, the show has managed to dig up some good raw talent within Pakistan. The show’s versatility is evident in the type of singers it presents — ranging from those who have grown up listening to the soulful renditions of Udit Narayan and Sajjad Ali to those who take their inspiration from the success of the very distinctive Ali Azmat and Atif Aslam. The six of them more or less represent a fusion of Pakistani rock, folk, ethnic pop and filmy music.

Zamad Baig

Baig is the last of the final six contestants and stands out for his ability to sing rock songs to perfection. Although Junoon’s Neend Aati Nahin is more of a pop-rock song than essentially rock, Baig’s slow and atmospheric version of the song spoke a lot about his vocal capability. His voice texture is very raw, piercing and unorthodox and that seems to be missing from the Pakistani music industry since the heydays of Roxen. Rather it has become very difficult to find a proper rock vocalist but Baig definitely has the potential to be identified as one. With the sudden increase in the demand for Sufi-rock singers both in Pakistan and India, Baig should get a lot of opportunities if he trains a bit more.

Rameez Khalid

Rameez Khalid is a complete package, who would have been given countless offers had he participated in some Indian talent show. With his chocolate hero looks and a truly soulful cover of Yeh Shaam by Vital Signs, it seems that Khalid will be adding a lot of flavour to the overall line-up of the show. Despite the fact that he is a trained classical singer, he has the ability to venture into genres such as pop amongst others.

Natasha Baig

One cannot help but say that Natasha is the only true rockstar of the show. With a bandana on her head and a dynamic personality, Natasha has the right combination of energy and talent for her age. She sang an improvised version of Dekha Na Tha by Alamgir and that smile on Alamgir’s face, who was sitting right in front of the stage, said loads about how much the judges and the audience enjoyed her powerful performance. Although this version of the song was a little slow and off-tempo at the beginning but it was good enough to introduce the audience to a voice that has the potential to do miracles in the near future.

Kanza Munir

Although female artists are often sidelined in music shows as observed in many Indian reality shows, Kanza has managed to charm audiences with a unique vocal texture which is perfectly suitable for pop music. Although her high and low notes might not be as perfect and need a little more training, her style of singing surely makes her stand out. She sang Khwaab Adhoore Sahi by Junoon, a song that requires a lot of variation but she successfully managed to give a raw spin to it with her soft, mellow voice. If used properly, she has a voice tailor-made for electronic pop music with a touch of trance.

Mohsin Ali

An incredible vocal range and vivid influences of folk and filmy music make Ali a musical powerhouse from Lahore. Although, it takes a lot of guts to pick up a classic melody like Sham Se Pehle Aana by seasoned singer Alamgir, Ali succeeded in doing justice to the song by not leaving a single high or low note unfinished. Ali is one of those rare voices from Pakistan that is absolutely fit for playback singing. With so many local films coming up and Bollywood opening its doors, there couldn’t have been a better time for Ali’s talent to surface.

Shabbir Ali

Shabbir Ali, who covered Anjane by Strings, is the first finalist of the competition who will get the opportunity to be mentored by one of the top musicians of the country and enhance his singing skills. A brilliant pop singer, Ali’s strength lies in his very distinctive tone that can take him to new heights, if guided properly. Just as Aslam rose to fame with his discernible, sharp tone, Ali, too, has the potential to bank on his voice. However, only time will tell about his persistence as an upcoming artist.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2013.                    

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“People have always underestimated the local audience’s passion for cinema,” well-known film critic and box office analyst Nawab Huzurul Hasan Siddique tells The Express Tribune. “Whether the roads are flooded with water or there is a strike in the city, hordes of people come to watch films and there was a similar situation during the pre-election days.”

Siddique believes that people, especially Karachiites, have become so habituated to violence and uncertainty that they no longer think twice before stepping out for a film in volatile moments — unless an untoward incident takes place right before them. A testimony to this is the smooth sale of movie tickets for Chambaili, which was released at a time when shutter-down strikes and days of mourning were being observed. “Whenever cinemas were open in those days [strikes], the films screened — Chambaili and Aashiqui 2 — received housefuls,” says Siddique.

Analysing the box office success of Chambaili, the critic says that it performed above expectations wherever it was released. According to sources, the film had crossed the Rs20 million mark before the elections and managed to gross Rs4.5 million at Atrium Cinemas alone. The figures would have been higher had the screening of films not been suspended on Election Day.

Interestingly, the screening of Bollywood flick Aashiqui 2 alongside Chambaili proved fruitful for the latter. “Chambaili got a higher viewing because there were no seats available for Aashiqui 2. So people who would not get tickets to Aashiqui 2, would stay back to watch Chambaili instead,” explains Hassan. “As expected, the decision of releasing a local film with an Indian film helped the former and this trend will continue in multiplexes throughout the country.”

Aashiqui 2 did not harm Chambaili’s business prospects, but there is no assurance of a solid competition and constant business, primarily because only four Pakistani films will be released this Eid sans any Indian flick.

However, neither Siddique nor any other box office analyst is willing to compare Chambaili’s business with that of Bol, a film that grossed Rs110 million in Pakistan after running for more than 15 weeks. But if we look back, Bollywood actor Imran Khan-starrer Delhi Belly was banned in Pakistan when Bol was screened. Much similarly, Shootout at Wadala and Go Goa Gone have been banned for Chambaili.

Censor board’s covert support

Although this trend does not downplay the massive response Bol received, the dots are worth connecting, since the censor board’s role in prohibiting Indian films may not be clear in the case of Bol, but is pretty clear in with Chambaili.

The argument that the films are being banned owing to controversies — Shootout at Wadala is based on the downfall of Dawood Ibrahim, wanted in India for terror bids, and Go Goa Gone is rife with profane language — falls flat, because in the past, a film like OMG — Oh My God! that questions blind faith and Emran Hashmi-starrer Raaz 3 with its racy scenes, made it to screens.

The noticeable trend of banning Indian films at the time of a Pakistani film release signifies an underlying intent of shielding the business of local films — an act which impedes healthy competition at the box office.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2013.                    

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Hamza Akram’s Qawwali-Rock ‘Sufystical’ fusion created with musician Ahsan Bari is an evolution of what Coke Studio producer Rohail Hyatt did with Fareed Ayaz and Abu Mohammad’s masterpieces such as Kangna. The difference between the two is subtle. Coke Studio kept the spotlight on the powerhouse vocals. On the other hand, in Sufystical, the qawwals are following the music, which makes it a contemporary take on a classical tradition. Add an immersive instrument such as the sarangi and a jazz element with the saxophone and you’ll get an amped-up form of Qawwali that is all about the groove.

Sufystical retains the spiritual content of Qawwali but with bass guitar, drums and keyboard added on, its Rock undertones are highlighted. Qawwali is so very rock-like — both genres are pegged to high notes and are sung loud.

The tricky part was merging the two styles that have originated far away from each other geographically, chronologically and philosophically. But in Ahsan Bari, Hamza Akram & Party had rock solid support. Bari was able to ensure the huge set of instruments complemented each other in numerous ensemble pieces but still maintained their individual presence.

For the smattering of head bangers in what was essentially an elderly audience at the Sufystical performance, it was Bari’s brilliant guitar solos and an experiment with Baloch rhythms that had everyone swaying. In particular, it was the polyrhythmic take on the popular Baloch folk tune Wash Mallay that garnered the most applause. It works particularly well with Qawwali because, according to Akhtar Chanal Zahri, the maestro behind Daanah pah Daanah all Baloch melodies are derived from the stroll of a camel and are thus based on a beat of six. Compare this to the Sindhi or Punjabi melodies which are based on the gallop of a horse or beat of four. A

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, May 12^th, 2013.

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In NA-250, the Election Commission of Pakistan has said that the process will be started from scratch in those polling stations from which complaints have been received.

One polling station where rigging was blatant was Aisha Bawany Secondary School, where the presiding officer, was watching a woman place stamps on ballot papers and slipping them into the ballot box.

The constituencies falling within district West also remained turbulent throughout Saturday. What began as a smooth start to a seemingly tranquil polling day in NA-242 quickly spiraled into chaos about an hour before noon. A small bomb planted in a bus rocked the area near Shaheen school, a polling station close to Kati Pahari. Polling was immediately suspended in the surrounding polling stations.

Violence was not the only hurdle here: like other parts of the city, voters and polling staff reported blatant hijacking of the election process amid the ECP mismanagement. A group of over 50 young men stormed the Government Boys Primary School, Pirabad, and manhandled the polling staff. While talking to The Express Tribune, Farhat Ali Khan, the presiding officer, said, “They tore half the ballot papers and took away the rest of them.”

More of the same was seen at the Government Degree College in SITE. Unidentified men barged into this polling station and threatened the staff, which scurried off to a separate room some distance away from where the booths had been set up. “They said they would take me to Kati Pahari if I don’t leave the room,” said the rather frightened presiding officer. “Are we here just to count votes as these people do whatever they like?”

Meanwhile, supporters of different political parties had erected barriers along routes which connected Lyari to Kharadar. The area falls in NA-249 – the constituency where a neck-and-neck competition was expected between Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Farooq Sattar and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) stalwart Abdul Aziz Memon.

The same happened in the heart of Lyari, where PPP’s Shah Jahan Baloch was vying for the same seat as MQM’s Nabeel Gabol. But here, markets were open and people, especially youngsters were dancing to the tune of Balochi and Sindhi songs, shouting support for PPP. The area might have a reputation for violence, but it remained peaceful on polling day.

At the other end of the city, near Landhi, people didn’t even have to make it all the way to the polling station to discover that their right to vote had been snatched. “You guys don’t need to go to the polling stations as your votes have already been cast,” an activist of a political party told a couple just as they were about to head out to vote.

According to Ashraf Samo, PPP candidate, the democratic process was also derailed in Malir. Reports of the hijacking of the election process also surfaced in NA-253. Umair, a 26-year-old man who did not get to cast his vote made an appeal to the authorities to declare the votes in his constituency null and void. “You can rig all you want. Karachi will not take your rubbish this time.”

Situation in the rest of Sindh 

Violence also ensued in parts of Upper Sindh, disrupting the election process here. Some party workers were bringing voters to polling stations in their vehicles. The staff complained about a lack of facilities and load-shedding during the midnight and in the early morning. In Larkana, the police arrested PPP activist Ghulam Rasool at the Baqrani tower polling station, trying to cast fake vote.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2013.

KARACHI: Reports of rigging in favour of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) have come up from the NA-242 and PS-96 constituencies of Karachi. The incident was reported from Government Degree College in SITE Town.

A group of unidentified men had forced polling staff to vacate the station at 11am.

Boys under the age of 11 were seen stamping the Bat symbol on ballot papers in the NA-242 and PS-96 constituencies.

Reports of rigging and polling delay have come from all across Karachi.

Eyewitnesses also reported that rigging was taking place in NA-255, PS-122.

Polling continues in NA-241

Despite reports of rigging from nearby constituencies, polling continued smoothly in areas of NA-241.

Activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) were announcing on loudspeakers that their candidates had not withdrawn and that it was a conspiracy.

Voter turnout is low in the constituency so far.

This trend of a brand sponsoring a music project was started by Coke Studio — now five seasons old — which received an incredible response. It provided an alternate business model for musicians altogether, as big names like Pepsi and Wall’s have now also joined the league of brands supporting the Pakistani music industry.

This year, Pepsi unveiled their music show Pepsi Smash, which features 10 songs sung by different artistes. The popularity of each song will be gauged by its virality, both over television and social media. Farhad Humayun of Overload is the producer of the show, while Faisal Baig and Sheraz Siddiq are the music producers.

With an interesting line-up, the show which is being aired from Lahore after Nescafé Basement, looks promising and is expected to strike a different chord, in terms of music production. Their second session featuring Strings’ song Jeevan is already spreading like wildfire. The show features Symt, Noori, Strings, Siege, Sajid and Zeeshan and Jarar Malik, with Ali Asad and Hussain Ali Shah making their debut.

Apart from that, Cornetto Music Icons, a project by Wall’s, is expected to be Pakistan’s biggest talent hunt show. Led by music producer Shahi Hasan, the show features six musicians from stalwarts like Alamgir to newbies like Zoe Viccaji. The show, which has a logo that seems to resemble the Looney Tunes’ logo, has been promoted through billboards across the country which feature singers dressed in popsicle colours. However, all of this does not downplay the fact that they managed to discover some really good talent in their second episode, that aired last Sunday.

Another relatively naïve attempt to give young talent a platform to showcase their skills, was Ufone Uth Records with Omran Shafique (Momo) and Louis J Pinto (Gumby), which nosedived in season two when Shafique exited the show. Season two was not able to garner as much eyeballs as season one because the show was being produced single-handedly by Gumby.

With five months of the year gone, there is no sign of a third season of Uth Records. Sources say that Ufone has made the curtain call for the show, however, nothing is offcial. Gumby left Coke Studio to launch Uth Records and it failed. Quite similarly, after doing one season of Coke Studio, Humayun is now producing his own music show. Here’s hoping that the jinx attached to the whole act of Coke Studio drummers producing their own shows does not act up.

Even seasoned musicians such as ex-Junoon member Salman Ahmed and Aamir Zaki are associated with one thing or another. For musicians, it is now a matter of survival. Record labels have an inconsequential presence and there is hardly any airtime for Pakistani music; coupled with the ban on YouTube, it is ventures like these that give musicians opportunities to showcase their music and eventually go on tours to make money.

Pakistan has the potential to do 20 more shows like this. It is important that brands give a chance to new faces, or it won’t take much time for the shows to become monotonous!

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2013.

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The  event which was more like a freestyle jam session offered an ample number of microphones for anyone who wanted to join in and play their instruments; they were part of the props that helped old and new artists become part of a ‘musical conversation’. Right after the first chord of the night was struck, music enthusiasts present at the venue gave a huge round of applause — the raw and fresh sound that was produced was something they hadn’t heard in a while.

From hard rock to blues, and ethnic pop to reggae — all sorts of genres were explored with an incredibly rich set of musical instruments, including an extensive percussion set-up and a kazoo. “This is all improvised and experimental and that is the beauty of it,” musician Hamza Jafri, also the owner of Mad School and organiser of the jam sessions, tells The Express Tribune. Jafri, who is also a singer and guitarist with the band CoVen adds, “This is how we make music in CoVen; we just try and say what all we have to say through instruments and resultantly, a song is made.”

The Mad Jam is a monthly charitable initiative in collaboration with Kiran School. The proceeds will go to Mad Gift of Music, a charity programme which aims at providing free music education to students in Lyari. Musicians and members of the audience paid Rs300 each for a ticket to the jam session. “They all know that this jam is arranged for a noble cause, but that is secondary,” continues Jafri. “For them, it’s more of a space to jam and take out their frustrations.”

The Mad Jam which started with Jafri, Omran Shafique (Momo), Sikander Mufti and Ali Jaffri as the prime performers, has now involved the crème de la crème of Karachi’s music fraternity, both young and old. “It’s an amazing place to jam as we get to perform with some extraordinarily talented young musicians of Karachi and vice versa,” guitar prodigy Aamir Zaki, who is the senior most musician among the rest at the Mad Jam tells The Express Tribune.

Praising the efforts put into arranging the gig, Zaki says, “The good thing is that everyone gets to do what they want to do and that’s the real charm of it.” He laughs and adds, “If someone wants to play dark chords and go on their own musical trip, there’s no one who will stop them because there’s no brand involved.”

The list of younger musicians include some of the most active members of Karachi’s live music, such as Alan Simon, Ahsan Bari, Mubashir Admani (from Coke Studio), Jasir Abro, Raheel Manzar Paul, Hamad Khan and Abdul Aziz Kazi. All of them were overwhelmed by the experience of playing with the maestros and were of the opinion that such freestyle jam sessions should take place more frequently.

“This is perhaps the closest you can get to a conversation through musical instruments” says Kazi. “Things get interesting when you have people talking in a complicated manner through their instruments”.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2013.                      

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For this reason, distributors and exhibitors in Pakistan have decided to abandon Shahrukh Khan-starrer Chennai Express and Akshay Kumar-starrer Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai 2 -— films which are slated to release worldwide around Eid. The reason cited by the exhibitors is that Pakistani film-makers want all four local films to get more visibility.

Now here’s the problem: by applying a protectionist cultural policy, are we not robbing the Pakistani market of healthy competition? Even if the ban lasts a couple of weeks, we are temporarily relieving ourselves of a much better competition that is going to give us a tough time in the long run. The situation reminds us of the pigeon that closed its eyes to block out the cat that was coming to eat it.

Producers understandably feel that none of our films can compete with the production of value of films like Chennai Express. But what stakeholders tend to overlook is the Pakistani audience’s loyalty to local content. In the past, we saw Shoaib Mansoor’s Khuda Kay Liye gave a tough time to Emraan Hashmi-starrer Awarapan; while Mansoor’s second flick Bol, outclassed every other film at the local box office on its release.

Such examples render the insecurity of local film-makers misplaced and selfish. If the release of Bollywood films carries on as per schedule, it will help the audience and stakeholders gauge the value and quality of Pakistani films. If a Pakistani film manages to beat a mainstream Bollywood film at the box office, it will be a huge achievement for our film industry, without hurting the Indian film industry at all.

Another point to note is the release dates of Waar, Main Hoon Shahid Afridi, Ishq Khuda and Josh, which have been postponed in the past. If due to further delays in the production or editing, these films are not released on Eid, exhibitors will have to face major losses since the Indian films will not be available.

A similar incident occurred in 2010, when a Syed Noor-led delegation got Indian films banned on Eid by the cultural ministry and promised the release of three Pakistani films. But Eid came and went, and no Pakistani film was released. As a result of this, a mainstream film like Dabangg made it to Pakistani cinemas three days later than its worldwide release — after cable operators had run pirated versions of throughout the holidays. This was one of the worst post-Ramazan box office failures, which could be repeated if there are more delays at our end.

In a debate like this, the decision of actor-turned-film-maker Reema Khan to release her first production venture Love Mein Ghum alongside Salman Khan-starrer Bodyguard should be lauded. Despite being a box office flop, Love Mein Ghum’s release spoke volumes for the effort Reema made to put her film at par with an Indian flick.

The practice of airing Turkish soaps during primetime and screening Indian films on Eid shows how having a healthy competition ups the quality of content produced. Banning or prohibiting foreign content temporarily might be profitable for some, but is essentially unhealthy in the long run.

Shahrukh and Kumar should not be eliminated from the competition this Eid, but instead should be available along with Shaan Shahid and Humayun Saeed. Let’s show some confidence in our entertainers and allow our audience to show its loyalty towards local faces versus Bollywood ones.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2013.

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