A void in comedy

After the deaths of four legends within a month, theatre has lost its masters with no one to fill their shoes.

LAHORE:

Comedy in Pakistan has never suffered as much as it did in the last one month. The legends that once illuminated the comic scene of the country and set extremely high professional standards passed away in a very short span of time, leaving comedy in a state of tragedy.

First it was Liaquat Soldier in Karachi, then Mastana and Babbu Baral in Lahore and now Moin Akhtar in Karachi. Commercial theatre is not what it used to be and these people defined comedy in their own ways. They were torch-bearers for commercial artists. Lahore is the city where the highest number of plays are staged in a year and the theatre scene in this city has never been as bad as it is now, Chaudhary Zulfiqar Ahmad, Chairman of the Commercial Theatre Producers Association told The Express Tribune.

It is rare but the Lahore Arts Council had to cancel its performances twice within two weeks. Firstly, it was after the death of Babbu Baral when all the commercial theatres cancelled their shows in Lahore, and again, after the news of Akhtar’s death.

Everybody in the theatre and television fraternity is grieved by the death of these four comedians. However, no one has suffered as much as theatre and comedy. My mind turns to August 1993 when Tamaseel Theatre in Lahore witnessed a play in which Moin Akhtar, Imanullah, Babbu Baral, Mastana, Sohail Ahmad and Khalid Abbas Dar played the main roles. It was a commercial play but it was nothing like the commercial plays of today. “The jokes these comedians cracked spontaneously were so crisp that one would forget everything except the play one is watching”, Ahmad said.

“Theatre has been the identity of Lahore and all these comedians set high standards of work. Moin, I would say, was more than just a comedian. He was a showbiz legend. Theatre has lost its masters, and I don’t see anybody filling the gaps of these extraordinary artists,” senior artist Qawi Khan said.

Abid Kashmiri, who has been one of Moin Akhtar’s favorite comedians, said that there wasn’t anybody to replace these four artists who had passed away within one  month. He said, “All these actors have been associated with theatre and the standards that they set for theatre are remarkable. Younger artists can do wonders, but they must watch and learn from the work done by these masters”.

Actor Irfan Khusat said that the theatre will always miss these artists. He said: “Zoja Mohtarma and Shadi Meray Dada Ki were the last two plays that Moin Akhtar did in Lahore at Alhamra Art Centre some 10 years ago. He was a down-to-earth, caring and kind-hearted person who was exceptionally brilliant on stage”.

Actor Firdous Jamal summed up the immensity of the nation’s loss very well: “Theatre and comedy are wounded and deserted after the death of these stars. Moin, I would say, was matchless. Nobody in the subcontinent has done the one-man show better than him. Theatre is just one genre, he had skill over all the genres of entertainment”.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2011.