Dawn Images

The Alhamra Art Centre was the most happening place in the city on Saturday on the second day of the 3rd Faiz International Festival.

The festival was attended by people from every walk of life, including lots of youth.

The city's leading bookshops have stalls installed on the lawns of the centre. The food court offers both traditional and fast food and attracted a large crowd.

From the panel discussions, the most well-attended session on Saturday was that of popular television and film actress Bushra Ansari, moderated by Sarmad Khoosat. Before Ansari appeared on stage, a short documentary was shown to the audience that featured her classic roles in different television plays and her parodies of different singers such as Tahira Syed, Salma Agha and Mussarat Nazir.

Bushra, alive and kicking as ever, had the audience bursting into laughter on many occasions with her witty remarks. While discussing her showbiz career with Khoosat, she remembered the days in the 1960s when she started her career but in low tones because showbiz was not considered a good career for women those days.

“I wanted to be a singer initially; however, the turn of events and situations finally placed me in a place which had a mix of many genres of performing arts”.

To Bushra, comedy was something which was enjoyed by everyone as compared to serious roles, though serious roles had their own importance. She said now when she had tried almost all kinds of roles in acting, had sung songs and done films, she wanted to write a book on her career, mentioning also Samina Ahmed, Saba Hameed, Rubina Ashraf and Sakina Samo as they all had started their careers almost the same time and had done a lot acting. In a lighter vein, she termed the social media too dangerous for it had become too imposing.

In another session, Art as Healer, the discussion took place among Tahira Syed, Nighat Chaodhry and Zulfiqar Zulfi while the moderator was Tanzila Khan.

Nighat Chaodhry shared glimpses from her personal life with the audience, saying her father was very brutal and strict when it came to dance and other such activities. She mentioned how much struggle she had to put in against the odds she faced at the hands of her family to become a classical dancer of substance as dance was very close to her heart.

Similarly, Zulfiqar Zulfi shared his story, saying he did not have money to buy art material at the beginning of his student life.

“I used to complete assignments of other students while studying visual art that helped me attain the skill.”

Tahira Syed to this question of the moderator that at times singers got negative in an attempt to get stardom said she had no such experience; however, when singers craved for a lot of money and stardom some of them might have had though this way but in normal cases it did not happen.

In another session, titled My Journey Theatre, TV and Film, Samina Pirzada discussed her early career in children theatre during her childhood.

TV writer Haseena Moin insisted Usman Peerzada (Samina’s husband) to let her perform in movies but since Samina's mother was not in favour of doing movies, Usman did not allow her that for six years after her marriage. The first play she did was that of Shehzad Khalil and finally she did two films simultaneously Nazdikian and Shadi Meray Shohar Ki.

Navid Shehzad said she could not imagine Faiz Sahib without a cigarette and a particular smile he used to have. To a question, she said that she watched cinema a lot during her childhood because three of her maternal uncles had their own cinemas.

“I also later taught cinema for 10 years,” she added but never thought and one day she would also do cinema.

Irfan Khoosat said his first meeting with Faiz Ahmad Faiz was at his Model Town residence where he went on bicycle for some work. He said one always learned while sitting with the intellectuals so he always used to enjoy the company of his seniors.

A dance performance by the Lahore Grammer School, Johar Town branch, and a Punjabi play by the Sangat Theatre Group of Huma Safdar on the lawns were also appreciated by the audience.

The Faiz International Festival will continue today (Sunday).

Originally published in Dawn, November 19th, 2017