Washington, July 20 (Inditop.com) As their government leaders shake hands but fail to act, a group of artistes from India and Pakistan have joined hands to present a play highlighting the composite culture that binds them.
The play “Jisne Lahore Nahin Dekhya”, or One Who Has Not Seen Lahore, would appropriately be staged on Aug 14 and 15, the independence days of Pakistan and India at the prestigious Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts here. There will be performances also in New York, London and Sydney.
Produced by Pushpa Dashottar and directed by Umesh Agnihotri under the banner of Phoenix Rising Media Group, the play will be performed by local actors of Indian and Pakistani origin.
“Jisne Lahore Nahin Dekhya” is a highly acclaimed Hindi drama by playwright Asghar Wajahat. Set in 1947 during the time of partition, the play depicts the strength of human relationships in an atmosphere charged with communal hatred, intolerance, and vendetta, director Agnihotri said.
It tells the riveting story of the interaction between a Muslim refugee family that migrates from Lucknow in India to Lahore in Pakistan and the mother of a Hindu refugee family who is somehow left behind when others in her family leave for India, he says.
The play will be dedicated to millions of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs who were killed or displaced by British India’s 1947 Partition would also be a tribute to Habib Tanvir, a pioneer in Urdu, Hindi Indian theatre, who died recently, Agnihotri said. It was Tanvir who first brought the play into limelight in 1992.
The performance also celebrates the 20th anniversary of the play that is soon being turned into a Bollywood movie by Raj Kumar Santoshi, he said.
