Indus Valley’s students light stage with Khamosh Kalaam

Jumbo Editorial Team

Khamosh Kalam, a production of Laaltain, the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture Performing Arts Society, who won the blue ribbon at the Youth Theatre Festival organized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Government of Sindh, with the collaboration of the Arts Council of Pakistan in 2011, stole limelight in the recent two-day event titled Thrust-A Night of Performing Arts at the Arts Council in Karachi.

With the film industry in crisis and the television obssessed with news and current affairs, it was heartening to find theatre providing another source of entertainment, and extra heartening was the fact that it were the young people meeting the challenge.  

Usman Riaz, dynamic young musician and one of 20 individuals selected as Ted Fellows for Ted Global 2012 in Edinburgh, Scotland, opened the event with some of his finest instrumentals, with Alfred D'Mellolent on percussions. 

The overwhelming performance set the mood for the main event of the evening, Khamosh Kalaam, a thought-provoking pantomime that emphasized the responsibility of an artiste to complete any creative process that he undertakes, as the characters he creates are alive and yearn for the perfect ending. 

At a time when adaptations are the norm within theatre, it was overwhelming to see Laltain experiment with an original script. Written and directed by Zehra Nawab and Syed Arsal, the main idea of the act was originally conceived by Arsal

   

The curtain rose on a writer busy writing his stories and as he writes each new scene and the character, the stories begin to manifest on stage. 

Each act brought a new set of characters battling for their existence but the writer brings them to an end without second thought. The act thrives on impressive performances and inclusion of some of the finest Eastern melodies, despite not having any dialogues. 

Ustad Zakir Hussain and Adnan Sami Khan's music, nicely edited by Syed Arsal himself, resonated well with the audience and maintained the flow of the story. 

Happy with the efforts of his cast and team, Syed Arsal attributed the success of the play to director Zehra Nawab and the cast, namely Maheen Rashid, Shahmir Khan, Zahra Ilyas, Saad Pirzada, Wasim Shekhani and Sakina Lotai. 

 “Performing a role without the support of dialogues was indeed a difficult task for our actors as they have to bring their characters alive with their expressions, footwork and intelligent use of the stage. Even during rehearsal it was good to see a few taking liberty to improvise and bring variation to the character to add to its feel and impact,” Arsal said.