Proceeds of play to go for the benefit of artistes

Given the resounding success of his play running currently, Naach Na Jane”, another play by Anwar Maqsood, titled “Naya Pakistan”, is to be staged from August 14.

This was announced by none other than Anwar Maqsood himself at a press Conference at the Arts Council on Tuesday. He said that it was for the benefit of artistes whose voices were “heard no more” over the radio, whose faces “were seen no more” on television, and who were having a hard time meeting the demands of daily living and the demands of their offspring in these days of backbreaking inflation and dearness.

He said it was our bounden duty to think of those who had given the best years of their lives to radio, TV, and stage and that we owed them a massive debt of gratitude .He said all the proceeds from “Naach Na Jane” would be going to the artistes.

He said that having seen the booking charts, he had concluded that the showings of the play would go well up to the beginning of the Ramazan season. After Ramazan, he said, the play would be taken to Lahore, Faisalabad and Peshawar.

He said that Davar Mehmood, who had directed “Naach Na Jane”, would also be directing “Naya Pakistan”. Talking about Naya Pakistan, he said the play pivoted around a pushcart vendor who was selling the “Purana Pakistan” on his pushcart, with all the icons of the old Pakistan transcribed on the cart.

Davar Mehmood, the director of “Naach na Jane” and now “Naya Pakistan”, said the former play had elicited lots of interest among the Pakistani diaspora in the US, UK, UAE and South Africa and that it may be staged in these places for the Pakistanis settled there. The mediafolk were also entertained to a scene from “Naach Na Jane” starring Sara Bhatti, Yasser, Farhatullah Abdullah and Asjad (Chaudhry Saheb).