A profound reflection of our times

Karachi

No water in the mains, when most needed. No electricity in the scorching summer months. Crime galore. Break-ins. Thefts. Yes, this is the story of Karachi, a story of the vast human tragedy resulting from these vicious phenomena. The neurosis that grips individuals, all these have been so vividly portrayed in “Khoya Hua Aadmi”, a play by the late Kamal Ahmed Rizvi, which was staged at the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) on Friday evening.

Rizvi, a member of that genre of television artistes and writers who really feel the human dilemma stemming from civic and social unrest and adept at portraying them most profoundly, has done a splendid job.

It is the story of Danish and Bano, a middle-class, middle-aged contented couple living in an apartment block called Clifton Heights.

Danish loses his job. The apartment is burgled. Bano gets a job. Danish suffers a nervous breakdown. The couple suffer indignities, one after another. This leads to marital friction despite Bano being a very loving and understanding wife. She smothers him with great patience while he’s going through his spasms of a nervous breakdown and the resulting tantrums.

To top it all, they have intrusive neighbours who are always expressing their annoyance at the noisy, acrimonious exchanges taking place between Danish and Bano. 

The play takes another twist when Danish, who has turned paranoid, suspects Bano of carrying on with her boss and her colleagues, an accusation that Bano seemingly glosses over.

The there comes a stage when Arif, the brother of Danish, and his sisters formulate a plan to help Danish out of his predicament and they purchase a livestock farm for him, a gift Danish refuses to accept on account of his ego.

The play tells us of the misfortunes of the middle classes, who are the victims of the machinations of the rich, the capitalists, the instability of capitalism. 

This is reflected by the fact that the firm Danish is working for suffers a loss of millions which results in retrenchment and so many employees are doomed to hunger and poverty, with the company owners disowning all responsibility for the hard times that have befallen the employees who have worked hammer and tongs to keep the firm afloat. The company tycoons just look the other way, as if nothing ever happened. Such are the vagaries of capitalism.

Fawad Khan as Danish and Aiman Tariq as Bano have both performed their roles most powerfully. They have put life in the roles and brought home the vagaries of a tardy civic life and its effect on the individual lives of citizens in a really effective way.

The play runs up all the way to March 13. It is a must-see for an insight into the talent of the TV producers of the genre of Kamal Ahmed Rizvi, a genre who could really see the evils of society and how those evils did not spare even individuals.

Well done Khalid Ahmed!