Written by: Farheen Abdullah
Posted on: August 06, 2019 | 
| 中文
Vajdaan Shah (Pawan) and Raheel Siddiqui (Aakash)
Over the last four weekends, National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) held its theatre festival titled ‘Jashan Saawan Ka’ which hosted four new plays: Lights Out, Heer Project, Dead End, and Pooja. Like always, NAPA aimed to provide a platform to the emerging directors and the new generation of theater stars to showcase their talent to a wider audience.
The closing act of the festival, Pooja, was the only musical performance out of the four plays. It told the story of two best friends, Pawan (Vajdaan Shah) and Aakash (Raheel Siddiqui) who fall in love with the same girl, Pooja (Fajir Sheikh). The play is set in a Hindu village, with its lead characters being fishermen.
The director, Uzma Sabeen, did a fantastic job with the way the performance was executed, and creativity was incorporated into a simple plot. Her use of light, sound, and stage space was wonderfully on point. The scene where Pawan’s father passes away and his memorial services are to be carried out, was particularly moving and well thought out. However, after his father’s death, Pawan takes the role of the Sardar of the village. This becomes a point which seemed to serve little purpose and was not touched upon in the second half of the performance.
Mohsin Khan choreographed the performance brilliantly. For a musical that depended largely on dance to reflect the emotions of the characters as opposed to dialogue, each routine was both engaging and entertaining for the audience, a tough balance to get right. Fajir Sheikh’s solo performance, specially, deserves to be commended. Not only did Fajir manage to remain energetic throughout the performance, she also had complete control over her expressions and displayed utter grace with her posture.
However, one cannot be sure if the act did justice to its promise of being a musical. Singing is an essential part of any musical, and Pooja missed out on that entirely. Although the team made wise choices with the music, the absence of live music which a Nigel Bobby Production is so used to nailing, was largely felt.
Moreover, the performance felt unnecessarily stretched and seemed to drag in. For example, the opening sequence shows a festival happening in the fishermen’s locality. While it was thoroughly entertaining to witness a mini fire show, stunts, dances, and a festive environment on stage, the routine went on for almost 15 minutes, ultimately losing the interest of the audience.
Pooja had a storyline which was simple, yet some twists in the plot, such as the storm which hits the village, were quite out of place, and felt forced. Ironically, the act was only an hour long, making the viewers wonder whether there was enough content and exposition to invest in the characters. The story is meant to be a love-triangle, but Pooja and Pawan never meet until the climax, leaving the viewers yearning for a backstory as to how the two know each other. The climax also has a fight scene between Pawan and Aakash, which ends rather abruptly, and takes an unexpected turn in the form of Pawan suddenly letting the two lovers unite.
Musicals are a specialized field which have recently begun to gain popularity in Pakistani theatre. However, a good musical is a coherent blend of dialogue, vocals, rhythm, and dance, and Pooja did not manage to tick all the boxes. However, Pooja gave a good solid and enjoyable performance nevertheless. Pooja managed to show the potential of its team members, and the talent which NAPA has continued to produce over the years.
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