World Culture Festival: Dark comedy ‘Aaj Ki Taza Khabar’ puts other shows in shade

A pall of melancholy seemed to drape over the audience on the seventh day of the World Culture Festival 2024, as the curtain rose on the dark comedy, Slaver: Aaj Ki Taza Khabar, at the Arts Council of Pakistan on Wednesday.

The play, whose characters are four friends namely, Kashif, Faisal, Billy, and Goonga, touched on themes like terrorism and counterterrorism in today's world. Directed by Younas Khan and written by Nasir Saleem, the black comedy begins with four friends taking refuge in a graveyard while evading the police. To their horror, the dead rise, forcing them to confront the menaces of new era.

As the story progresses, they grapple with making the right choices in a rapidly changing world. The 75-minute-long play was performed at Auditorium 1. The cast includes excellent performances by Syed Maqsood Sabir as Kashif, Mir Aslam Lashari as Goonga, Younis Khan as Faisal, Asad Gujar as Na Murad, Umesh Ladhani as Sardar, Asad Abbas as Fika, Waqar Nadeem as Siddiqui, Faiz Siddiqui as Pasha, Sameer Hashmi as a lawyer, Jareer Sheikh as Billi, Rafi as a terrorist, Ramsha Khan as Laila, Syeda Wasila as Hina, and Sophia as a protester. Other notable performances were by Shifa Khan, Raza Hanif, and Samar Abbas.