KARACHI: The following is a famous slogan from Chinese classical history: “Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.” This basically means that the more the ideas, the more open a society will be. The slogan has both its takers and naysayers. When it comes to the world of performing arts, theatre in particular, it can’t be disputed that the more the merrier. If on the one hand, Karachi has in recent years seen a blossoming of, for want of a better phrase, ‘serious theatre’, on the other, the ongoing Awami Theatre Festival organised by the Arts Council of Pakistan is catering to a big number of audiences who are fond of the genre. On Wednesday evening a play titled Guddi Hateli penned and directed by Tasneem Rana fell into that same category.

Guddi Hateli staged during ongoing Awami Theatre Festival at Arts Council

Guddi Hateli is a typically commercial drama, with funny lines and a host of colourful characters. Literally, a host (more than a dozen) of them. The setting is of a basti where people belonging to all sorts of ethnolinguistic backgrounds live. When the play begins, an old man, Chacha Chirandi (Tasneem Rana) is seen sleeping on a charpoy. In comes Guddi Hateli (Shanzay) followed by seven or eight kids, announcing the death of Chacha. It turns out that he is alive and the audience also gets to know that Guddi is a tomboy with a heart of gold who has a fan-following among children because she wants them to do well in life. As Chacha and Guddi engage in a heated discussion on how the latter is becoming a headache for him and the basti, a variety of characters — ranging from a Dilli wala butcher to a Bihari aunty to an effeminate man — appear in clusters. They have their own problems to deal with which signifies the lack of harmony in the neighbourhood. Then there is this young man, who is educated but unemployed (this he makes known when he rants about the uselessness of being educated as the well-connected in society get jobs.)

Guddi Hateli is a run-of-the-mill script made interesting by some loud (not jarringly) acting and amusing antics. Some of the lines are childish. For example, one character says that the full form of KDA is Karachi Dakuo’n Ka Adda and KMC is Keera Makora Corporation. The audience seemed to enjoy all of it on Wednesday. And that’s what counts.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2024