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astakhat, a new play starring Amar Khan and Affan Waheed in lead roles, aired recently. Directed by Abdullah Badini, written by Edison Idrees Masih and produced by Momina Duraid, this one had humongous expectations attached to it. Productions of this scale are known to raise the bar for others. Did Dastakhat succeed in doing that? Here’s an analysis.
The play opens with Amar’s alarm ringing, signaling the time for the morning prayers. The house wears a festive look and has been decorated with loving attention to detail for her nikah to her first cousin, Salman, played by Affan Waheed. Ali Ammar stars as Hamza, Salman’s brother, who is Amar’s best friend. He treats her like an elder sister.
Amar is portrayed as an extremely loving and caring young woman who happily shoulders the responsibility of her entire household. Her grandmother, who is quite attached to her, laments the fact that her parents passed away all too soon, leaving her an orphan and in the care of her uncle’s family.
As the play unfolds, the viewer discovers that Salman is interested in Aiman, portrayed by Mehar Bano. He does not want to marry his cousin, but, being weak, keeps on delaying the inevitable. The viewer can glean that he is under immense pressure to marry in the family and is conflicted because he wants to live up to his parents’ expectations.
Salman musters up the courage to break the news to his father only a couple of days before the scheduled nikkah, resulting in an embarrassing situation for Amar.Aiman keeps pestering him and, eventually, he decides to take the bull by the horns. What transpires can be seen from a mile off.
As far as the story is concerned, it is highly predictable and hackneyed. The first episode was a huge let down and, although the acting is by and large proficient, the story has been done to death and has nothing new to offer.
As far as the story is concerned, it is highly predictable and hackneyed. The first episode was a huge let down and, although the acting is by and large proficient, the story has been done to death and has nothing new to offer.
Dialogues are extremely clichéd. Amar and Affan are wasted in yet another role that fails to exploit their potential. Mehar Bano is the weakest link as her acting leaves a lot to be desired. All she does is rant and rave. It becomes monotonous after a while.
Affan seems to be heavily inspired by Dilip Kumar and, in fact, resembles him a little. His character has shades of Devdas, too. The scene where he is smoking and mourning his fate has Devdas written all over it. Both the Indian actors who portrayed the role on screen come to mind. But that is not to say that Affan evokes the same emotions, a downside of poor writing.
Both the leads are good actors, but wasted in clichéd roles. The first episode was a downer as mentioned, but maybe, the story will take a turn for the better as the play progresses. One can only hope it does.
Babar Ali and Nadia Afgan are good, but again, seem to be sleep walking through their roles. The dadi is as always highly predictable and acts in exactly the same way in every play, which is why her acting becomes bland after a while. Hamza is average and the lady playing his love interest needs a crash course in acting.
The direction, story and the screenplay are below average. The two main leads are let down by a sloppy script and a poorly-knit narrative. It is quite disappointing to see that Duraid productions also succumb to mediocrity at times and would rather play it safe than experiment.
Verdict: Watch the play if you are a fan of Amar and Affan, but do not be too disappointed if the play does not live up to your expectations. A one-time watch, at best.
The writer, an educationist, can be reached at gaiteearahotmail.com