City Culture – Experiencing Zambeel Dramatic Readings

Yousfi sb farmatai hain ke Ek waqt tha jab log darya ka zikr karte thai tu ‘paani ka darya’ kehte thaii ke kahin ‘aag’ ke darya se ibhaam na paida ho jai.

Few decades forward, few would dare to read Quratul ain Haider, let alone ‘Aag ka Darya’. In a population with median age getting younger and younger, alienation with the lingua franca is astonishing. Therefore it was exciting to see youngsters turning up for the dramatic readings at T2f.

Zambeel Dramatic Readings just celebrated a year of its existence. They have been performing dramatic readings at T2f and elsewhere regularly covering Manto, Ismat Chughtai and Quratul ain Haider. Readings are supplemented with the music which aids to the narration.

Good Old Asif Farrukhi started the day. He reminisced of his meeting with Quratul ain Haider. He said that she once was so fed up with the praise for ‘Aag Ka Darya’ that she attributed it to the lack of further reading by critics. Certainly there was more to her legend as was subsequently shown by Zambeel. According to Zambeel, “Nazaara Darmiyaan Hai is a deftly woven tale that addresses human emotions of love and betrayal. Set in Bombay, the story gives us an insight into the lives of the protagonists Khurshid Aalam, Almaas Begum and the young and spirited Parsi girl Peroja Dastoor through the eyes of the housemaid Tara Bai.” Mahvash Faruqi, Saife Hasan and Asma Mundrawala performed well and the support cast supplemented. At the end you only wished that it continued for a little longer.

The Karachi Walla wishes that they cover Krishan Chandar and possibly Yousfi in future. It will be something.