According to Madeeha Gauhar, “Dara points to how religious politics took shape in the region we live in today, and how it laid the foundation of the present-day religio-political extremism. Much of what we study in history books is a biased version that eulogises barbaric characters like Aurangzeb Alamgir. Perhaps if we attempt to reread history by understanding forgotten heroes like Dara, things would be different today.”

The play started with a dance performance on Amir Khusrau's Aaj Rung Hai, and the scene changed to Emperor Shah Jahan in exile with his daughter Zaibunnisa. He confesses his apprehensions towards the vindictive ways of Aurangzeb who exiles him to secure his throne. He describes how Aurangzeb has flouted all consideration to basic tenets of humanity and love by having one of his siblings killed, confining his father and now persecuting Darashikoh who is popular with the masses, irrespective of their religious beliefs.

As the courtiers announce Dara's arrest after a failed attempt to battle Aurangzeb, hordes of people flock to see and receive Dara despite royal announcements to celebrate his arrest. An ascetic dervish Sarmad announces Dara's triumph despite his captivity. The courtiers ridicule Sarmad's ascetic ramblings, not realising that his words carry a deeper meaning.

Dara is shown to be a man who is inclined towards the Sufi doctrine of love for all. He is a scholar of comparative religion, a disciple of Mian Mir and Mullah Shah Badakhshahi and spends his time learning from men of wisdom belonging to other faiths such as Sikhs, Sadhus and Jesuits. Aurangzeb, on the contrary, is shown to be a ruthless and conniving man driven only by the pursuit for power. He is advised by his viziers to implicate Dara in a case of blasphemy through the Sharia Court instead of killing him at a time when the masses are filled with sympathy for him.
Historical facts, like Dara's successful appeal to Shah Jehan for cancelling heavy taxes on Hindus, were worked into the script together with fictitious innovations such as the trial which gave the play a characteristic Ajoka feel of being relevant to the times we live in. One could hear someone from the audience commenting that Dara's persecution and the machinations of the Mullahs affiliated with the court was akin to the PCO notification.

The play also explored the argument that Dara was a weak man. Had he been strong, he would have overcome the ploys of his adversaries; Aurangzeb included. Shahid Nadeem's script made Shah Jehan refute the argument and he admitted in a conversation with his daughter that he had been responsible for restraining Dara many a times when he wanted to overpower Aurangzeb and his other rebellious brothers. He admits that he did it out of fatherly love and that he had been responsible for Dara's difficult struggle of trying to balance the contrasting strains of his inclination towards sufism, and his responsibility as an heir to the Mughal throne.

In the trial, the Mullahs read out excerpts from books written by Dara which seem heretic to the orthodox clergy. Yet Dara defends his love for God and his faith, and asks if it was a sin to find common ground between the various faiths practiced in the Mughal Empire to bring a sense of oneness and tolerance.

The orthodox jurists remain unimpressed and Aurangzeb is unmoved by Dara's last letter appealing for mercy at least towards his innocent son, even though he has the choice to free a wingless Dara. The play ended with the ascetic dervish's rambling shown to be coming true. Despite Dara's failure in battle as a prince, his ideology of love and justice prevailed.

There were minor bloopers in the production which were uncharacteristic of Ajoka's usual finesse. The play started well after its slated time, for which Madeeha apologised by saying that the cast must be forgiven for taking time to settle down for the premiere. Sarmad Farsi, who was brilliantly enacted by the talented Usman Zia, was dressed in a jute drape fastened with a safety pin that shone brightly under the stage lights as he danced a trance, distracting the audience.

The sequence where Dara was shown spending time with wise men from different faiths had Mullah Badakhshan lighting the chiragh with a matchbox! The sequence in which the public was restrained from receiving Dara, the courtiers seemed too relaxed as soldiers trying to hold back the angry mob. The opening scene with Shah Jehan and his daughter had dervish Sarmad sitting in another corner of the stage and the scene finished without him being involved. Ajoka has offered crisper performances of new plays like the recent Raja Rasalu which was immaculate in every sense. Dara's performance needed a little tweaking to become a stellar act.

Where it excelled was in raising the essential question of why must a man who had his father exiled, brothers and his own offspring killed, who persecuted people from other faiths and sects, and admitted in the end that he was responsible for the fall of the Mughal Empire, be painted as a hero in our history books?