ISLAMABAD: A bitter, yet funny, conflict between a woman and her mother-in-law made for a fun-filled, yet thought provoking, afternoon at the PNCA on Saturday.
“Aisa Kyun Hota Hai”, a light-hearted Punjabi comedy written by M Sharif and directed by Razia Malik, was performed at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) as part of its national drama festival. The play revolved around the time immemorial saas-bahu issue.
A woman who marries off her eldest daughter with a truck-load of dowry is bitter that her new daughter-in-law’s family couldn’t do the same.
She taunts and yells at Sakina all day long for acting like a pauper and schemes to get rid of her so she could marry her son to someone richer, who will bring enough dowries to furnish her entire house.
Her son, in constant turmoil between the two, jumps to his wife’s defence whenever necessary. Yet he is unable to stop his mother from constant barrage of verbal insults at his wife.
The mother goes as far as to experiment with black
magic to get rid of Sakina, who in turn tolerates all the insults to protect her family’s respect.
Although the play was presented as a light-hearted comedy, the message it conveyed is serious and eye-opening: it is a woman who makes life difficult for another woman.
Many feminists would disagree, but real life examples around us of women burning and throwing acid on their daughter-in-laws and other horrific stories compel us to think otherwise.
Ishq staged at PNCA
Later at 7pm, an Urdu play “Ishq” was also staged before the packed hall audience. The play was written by M Farhan Mughal and Tooba Riaz, and directed by Sadia Shahid.
The theme of the play revolved around Ishq-i-Haqiqi, or real love, which means one can only ever truly love God, the true creator of the world.
It focused on the notion that when one falls in love with another person, Ishq-i-Mijazi, it ultimately leads to Ishq-i-Haqiqi, thus challenging some school of thoughts in Sufism.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 26th, 2011.
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