LAHORE: The closing day of a series of the parallel theatre performances, which were a part of Lahore Lahore Aye festival, concluded at Alhamra Art Center, The Mall, on Sunday.

The last play was Ajoka’s cult classic Bullah. It merits mention here that the opening play of the festival, Kala Menda Bhais, was also an Ajoka Theatre production.

Before the play, while making a brief speech on the occasion, Ajoka Institute’s Director Nirvan Nadeem termed Lahore Lahore Aye festival a great initiative by the Punjab government as Pakistan needed healthy art activities. He said Bullah was a classic play of Ajoka, which had been performed all over the world, including Iran and India.

Shahid Nadeem, the writer of the play, said Bullah was a part of Sufi theatre, an idea nurtured and developed by Ajoka, to support Sufism through theatre and its essential mechanics. Without naming the commercial theatre, Nadeem said such a theatre could be replaced by offering an alternative in the form of the parallel theatre that offered socially relevant and meaningful plays.

The ‘cultural establishment’ of the Punjab government also watched the play on Sunday, which included Secretary Information and Culture Danyal Gillani, executive directors of Lahore Arts Council, Punjab Council of Arts and the director general of the Punjab Institute of Language, Arts and Culture (Pilac).

The play, which earlier used to be directed by the late Madeeha Gauhar, encircles the time span of Sufi poet Bulleh Shah and the sociopolitical conditions of his time.

While elaborating the play, Shahid Nadeem told Dawn that Bulleh Shah (1680-1758) lived in the times of the downfall of the Mughal Empire, characterised by internecine conflicts, rebellions, civil and religious strife and total ideological and political chaos, times essentially not much different for the present-day South Asia. “Bulleh Shah was a beacon of hope and humanism, His powerful voice called for tolerance and love while there was bigotry and hatred all around.”

Naeem said Bulleh Shah promoted a relationship with God, which was non-oppressive, and enabled people to be religious and yet respect other people’s beliefs. He wrote about the common people, their sufferings and hopes. He did not see any conflict between his mystic beliefs and his devotion to music and dance.

Nadeem described the play Bullah as a tribute to the great mystic, broadly based on the events of his life as communicated through his poetry, historical records and popular myths. He said there was no dearth of dramatic episodes in the life of Bulleh Shah, his search for truth, his devotion to his mentor Shah Inayat, his opposition to bloodshed in the name of religion, all incorporated as powerful scenes in the play. The play was also about the times of Bulleh Shah and had some lessons for present-day Pakistan. It was a strong plea for love and peace, and an indictment against intolerance, violence and hatred.

The hall was jam-packed. The set was suggestive and the light of the stage had a brilliant treatment while the play had live music.

Bullah was first performed in Lahore in 2001 and has since been performed widely in Pakistan, India, Iran, Oman, UK, Denmark and the US. Its English translation was included in the Oxford University Press collection of Shahid Nadeem’s plays.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2023