Promotion of street theatre stressed to create awareness

PESHAWAR: Senior Pashto film director Sardar Khan urged youngsters to promote street theatre to pave the way for a positive social change.

Speaking as chief guest at a certificate distribution ceremony here on Sunday, he said it would serve not only as platform for the upcoming stage performers but would also pave the way for bringing about a positive social change.

The event was organised at a hujra in Khazana village to award certificates to young performers after two-day training workshop under the project ‘Revival of Indigenous Cultural Heritage (RICH)’ launched jointly by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Directorate of Culture and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Arts Council.

He said he had directed around 200 quality Pashto films with clear objectives to educate Pakhtun audience and make them aware of pressing social issues around them. “I have devoted 40 years of my active life to Pashto film industry. My emphasis used to be on effective storyline, powerful script and quality performance. I strongly believe, silver screen, stage and street theatre should serve the purpose of imparting education, information and entertainment to public,” he added.

He deplored that the Pashto cinema was used wrongly for serving ulterior motives of promoting violence and vulgarity and educating public on social issues. “Some people still use cinema to glorify violence and putting youth on the wrong track. Cinema being a powerful medium should be used to motivate youth and general public to promote peace, social cohesion and love for our land. In return, we get an identity and am image that defines us as a nation,” Sardar Khan explained. Nauman Rauf and Shabaz Khan, trainers of the project, said that they had properly received training from Lahore based Ajoka.