Safe bet of Taleem-e-Balighan pays off at Pakistan Theatre Festival

Throwing Taleem-e-Balighan into the mix of the Pakistan Theatre Festival 2023’s offerings was a safe bet as the play penned by Khawaja Moinuddin has earned the status of a classic satire, which has not lost relevance despite the passage of several decades since it was first staged as we are yet to resolve decades-old issues.

The decision paid off as the show’s tickets were sold off many days prior to Wednesday when it was staged at the main auditorium of the Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP). It was also a suitable play to cast relatively inexperienced lot of stage actors as the script would compensate any shortcoming on their part. However, the risky aspect of staging Taleem-e-Balighan is that that actors will always be judged against the high benchmarks set by legendary actors Mahmood Ali, Subhani Bayunus and Qazi Wajid as the mere mention of the Taleem-e-Balighan evokes in memory their performances in a Pakistan Television adaptation of the play.

Before acting in the television production, the three actors had enacted Moinuddin’s plays on theatre as well as radio and their mastery of the theatrical art is evident from their performance on the television.

The cast of the play had many good moments but they could not internalise their characters. However, they were successful in generating laughter throughout and the audience seemed satisfied with their experience as they left the auditorium.

As far as the setting was concerned, nothing was unexpected. The scene was a courtyard in the house of Maulvi Sahab, played by Owais, who is the sole teacher and administrator of a government school for adults.

The play presents a day at the school where five students come to attend Urdu, mathematics and history classes from Maulvi Sahab. The students include Qasai (butcher), played by Farhan Rahim, who is also the monitor of the class, Shamsoo Hajjam (barber), played by Ajnesh Dodeja, Doodhwala (milkman), played by Shehriyar, aged Dhobi (washerman) Chand Khan, played by Asim, and Khan Sahib, whose profession is not explicitly mentioned, played by Ali Raza.

Another character is the wife of Maulvi Sahab, who never physically appears but converses with her husband behind the stage. Apparently, a man was playing that role trying to create a feminine voice but it became so shrill that a large part of what the character said could not be deciphered.

An interesting part of the production was a slight change in the script as the director, Farhan Alam Siddiqui, made some additions to give a contemporary feeling to it. For example, although the school is still running under the sky in a primitive style, Maulvi Sahab now has a laptop provided by the government.

The teacher and students also have mobile phones, and the naughty Hajjam continues sending spam and fraud messages to Maulvi Sb, including a call for help by someone named Saba in desperate need.

Once, the teacher receives a message that India had landed on the moon. He dismisses it saying that we Pakistanis were destined to land on the Paradise. Such additions to the script caught the audience by surprise and were well received.