LAHORE: The third and final day of the 7th Faiz Festival Sunday opened with ‘Such Gup’ by the original characters in the show Shoaib Hashmi did back in the ‘70s. This session in Hall 2 of Alhamra made people laugh heartily. Everything the people on the stage uttered, resonated with the audience who had come to listen to good conversation, fine humour and fun more than anything else. And it was all there.
The Such Gup scene started with two panels, one of senior bureaucrats, the other of consultants. Arshad Mahmud was the moderator. He asked the bureaucrats why the cases they receive remain unresolved, on which one said when he joined as deputy secretary many years back there were a huge pile of files. He gave an astronomical number. “I got them photocopied and threw them away. We have done away with all the files. There aren’t any files now.” To a question, the secretary answered, “Under consideration.” When the questioner insisted it was most urgent, she said “most urgent is 2 days”. Shoaib Hashmi’s way of criticism could be understood by all, both common man and bureaucrat.
Naveed Shahzad and Arshad Mahmood recalled how the Such Gup team worked, met every day at Shoaib Hashmi’s home. The script couldn’t be whatsapped then and meeting everyday created new ideas that were thrilling. Navid Shahzad said, “We all consider him our guru”. Navid performed ‘Little girl’, mimicked women who comment on brides. She recalled a trend in the 50s, 60s, 70s in films—of asking for forgiveness from mother and how it turned into something funny.
“Whatever idea came from us, Shoaib Hashmi would add value to it,” Navid Shahzad said. Irfan Khoosat’s narration of the hunters in his family and Salman Shahid’s performance was greatly appreciated. They made the hall reverberate with laughter.
Irfan Khoosat said he would get payment for his recordings he did for Shoaib Hashmi’s programme the very next week. “There was a week when I did not record anything, so I was not expecting a cheque. When the artists were asked to receive their cheques, others went to get it. I did not. Shoaib Sahab noticed this and told me to go get my cheque. I said I had no recording last week. He said so many people get paid for doing nothing in this country. You do good work. Go, take it.”