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The three-day Faiz Festival, attended by the poet’s fans, concluded at the Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall, on Sunday in Lahore.

On the final day, there was a big turnout of visitors from various walks of life and age groups, who attended different sessions, talks, book launches, poetry sittings and music performances, besides visiting different book stalls set up at the venue.

The Alhamra pavilion was a hot spot where many individuals and families posed for photographs. The festival also featured an open mic and drum circle which visitors enjoyed. Many youngsters recited Faiz’s poetry at the open mic.

Many thought-provoking sessions were held on Sunday. One such session, ‘Journey of TV Drama’ moderated by Tauseeq Haider shed light on different periods and forms of TV dramas that continued to evolve with the passage of time.

The panellists at the session were playwright Fasih Bari Khan, director Kashif Nisar and actor Amar Khan. Fasih, sharing his views, regretted that writers were dictated by channels and producers to write what was popular among the masses and demanded content that should attract a large number of viewers.

He lamented that young writers despite having a lot of talent and depth in their writings were not given a chance by the channels because they were not established names. He said the stories of most of the plays were run-of-the-mill and had no novelty. Khan said the TV plays lacked progressive thinking and newness in the topics and highlighted the need to bring change in TV drama topics and explore new angles.

Nisar spoke about the difference between OTT platforms and mainstream channels, and said that what could be shown on OTT could not be shown in TV plays because such plays were being watched by a different audience. He agreed with the view that there were more formula plays with less or no novelty in scripts.

The regressive content in plays is also a major factor in the deterioration of TV drama, he added. Nisar said people who used to produce PTV plays did not have to worry about meeting the cost of the play because the state used to pay their salaries. Whereas in the case of present-day channels, directors faced commercial pressure.

Amar Khan was of the view that regressive stuff in TV plays also put pressure on actors. She said given the rating race among the channels, there was a viewership pressure on the actors as well, adding that the narrative is important but young writers who were doing good were not given a chance by the channels to prove their metal.

In another session, titled ‘Politics and Social Media’, moderated by Dr Taimur Rehman, panellists Syed Muzamil, Uzma Rumi and Faisal Warraich shed light on how social media has developed into a “think tank” itself and how it is influencing people’s opinion at different levels, whether the information it provides is true or false.

Warraich, speaking about the significance of communication tools said social media will be a brutal form of colonialism in the near future, adding that the new face of social media was there in the shape of artificial intelligence and robots.

Syed Muzaamil termed social media, an industry worth $300 billion, which was a form of ‘technological capitalism’. “It’s a world of illusion,” he said.

He added that information policies have been evolving with the passage of time as earlier print media writers were given great importance, then radio came and voices became important and then came television and now social media.

Rumi was of the view that without rationality nations became static. She said people should change with time as innovations are introduced that compel them to adopt change.

Originally published in Dawn, February 17th, 2025