A 40-member team of actors and technicians from Ajoka Theatre will cross the Wagah border on Saturday (today) to participate in the first ever Pakistani theatre festival in India.
The ‘Humsaya Theatre for Peace Festival’ opens in Delhi on Monday, according to a press release.
The festival will feature four of Ajoka’s plays — Bulha, Dara, Kaun Hai Yeh Gustakhand Lo Phir Basant Aee. It is being held by Ajoka in collaboration with a Delhi-based peace organisation, Routes 2 Roots.
In view of the prevailing tensions between the two governments and the ongoing talks between border security chiefs, the festival has already gained huge media interest in India.
The four-day festival will be followed by a seminar on ‘Theatre for Peace’ scheduled to be held at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University. Speakers likely to participate in the seminar include Pran Nevile, Usha Ganguli, Bansi Kaul and Kewal Dhaliwal from India and Asghar Nadeem Syed, Madeeha Gauhar and Shahid Nadeem from Pakistan.
Ajoka’s Executive Director Shahid Nadeem said: “We hope that the border chiefs’ talks in Delhi will be successful, but irrespective of that we are crossing the border with the message of peace and goodwill from the people of Pakistan and we are sure our festival will be a big boost for the peace process.”
He regretted that despite making promises to facilitate cultural exchange, governments on both sides had made visa processes more complex and tedious.
Ajoka’s Artistic Director Madeeha Gauhar said Indians and Pakistanis were bound by history, culture and geography. She said the plays to be performed at the festival include Bulha, based on the life and works of Baba Bulleh Shah; story of Mughal prince Darawho was a Sufi, a poet and a believer of religious harmony; a play on the life of Saadat Hassan Manto, Kaun Hai Yeh Gustakh; and Lo Phir Basant Aeeabout killing of the popular festival of Basant.
“We are taking this bouquet of high quality Pakistani theatre for the Delhi audience and we are sure they will respond with warmth like they have before,” she added.
