Shah Hussain, the leading poet of Punjabi, has assumed a legendary status. A very big festival, Mela Chiraghan, to celebrate his urs at the height of spring is held in the city of Lahore where hundreds of thousands of people turn up to pay homage to his contribution to the cultural and intellectual ethos of this area.
As a stuff of legend has to become a subject for literature/ art, so from time to time tales have been weaved and plays written about the character. Obviously as the plays are not supposed to be documentaries, the demands of dramatic necessities have taken precedence over the prosaic unfolding of a life. Najm Hosain Syed wrote Takht Lhore, a Punjabi literary masterpiece, very seldom performed, based on the epic battle of two approaches to human existence, one seeking freedom through power and control and the other freedom through absence of want. Shah Hussain represented the latter creed.
So it was not surprising that Azad Theatre staged Hussain at the Alhamra last week on the same archetypal struggle between these two worldviews, stitched together in a new script by Shabbir Ji based on the life and contribution of the legend. Hussain was cast as the main agent that fights and delivers with his poetry, forming the basic script of the play while the musical rendering of his kalaam/kaafis formed the subtext of the action that took place on stage.
It could be safely called the best production staged by Azad Theatre. They now have a number of plays to their credit starting with Rustam Sohrab, the classical Agha Hashr play serving as their debut, Cover Up. Akhiaan, Raja Porus that followed, and in most of the plays the same format of singing and dancing has been employed. In the case of Shah Hussain, it was inevitable because he was a very outstanding poet and is widely sung. As is the tradition, his poetry and singing connects with the people already connected with tradition.
When a play is staged and certain kaafis are sung at a juncture in the play, the obvious question or query that arises is of the relationship of the kaafi or piece of music with the action on stage. Did the same sequence of events happen and result in the creation of the kaafi as well. This relationship is ambiguous, to say the least, and since the poetic metaphor is more generalised and universal than the events that may have inspired it, in a play with more particularisation of the chain of events the two have to match, otherwise the credibility suffers and the tempo slackens.
In this play, too, it was the poetry and the singings that attracted the audience and made them connect to the play in a generalised manner than to the particularity of the causes unfolded in the play.
Akbar, the mighty emperor, was having problems in controlling the Punjab politically and there were revolts led by the likes of Dulla Bhatti, representing the Punjabi ethos as expressed in its peasantry. The various ideological movements like Deen-e-Ilahi, Bhagti Tekrik, puritanical orders emphasising strict application of shariat and the various shades of tareeqat demonstrated the dynamism of the times and the fertile soil it offered -- to sow and germinate new ideas and art forms.
A lot of the kalam of Shah Hussain was sung in the play. Some were new compositions while others were familiar and popular compositions sung by some of the best known vocalists of recent past and contemporary times. The compositions already sung and popular obviously had a different response from the audience than the new compositions. It was probably the satisfaction of being at home with the familiar that was soothing and offered a resolution than the anguish of encountering something new for the first time.
By also infusing it with action like sword fights and other examples of violence, the linkages between the actual and the metaphoric were weakened because the trend towards actualisation rather than being metaphoric made the action of the play suffer by raising questions of authenticity and credibility.
It is not always the most dramatic of techniques to treat the life of a legend chronologically as it was done in the play. The intensity is lost and the desired effect is dissipated to some extent, than if the play opens and then follows with sequences patterned in order of their significance.
The leading role of Hussain was played by Sarfaraz Ansari, one of the prime movers of the Azad Theatres along with the director of the play Malik Aslam. Sarfaraz Ansari has years of experience with theatre and his ability to sing is an added asset especially in many of the plays where singing has been a significant component. It is possible that many of the roles he has been able to land had this requirement, or that those were redesigned into one since he has the talent to sing. Hussain was cast as a kind, loving character who took to adversity and hardship with grace and patience. This was the price he had to pay for being truthful and upright.
The character of Madho was played by Mir Hamza, a relationship that was not erased altogether for the purposes of propriety as it sometimes happens with people we want to see sanitised and rinsed in multiple detergents.
The play had the advantage of live music -- an option that is always preferred even if the quality is different from the one that is piped. Live music has more warmth and can generate a better response than the coldness of piped music that can be off-putting. The vocalists Faiz Chishti, Ali Shahbaz, tabla player Raja Akheem and flute player Muhammed Kashan Ali created the right ambience.