Peerless Peer, peerless play
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"Patay Khan" was easily one of the best presentations in the just concluded National School of Drama's Bharat Rang Mahotsav-2005. And it revived the memories of the late Rafi Peer, says ROMESH CHANDER.
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A scene from "Patay Khan".
`PATAY KHAN' was one of the best presentations seen in the just concluded National School of Drama's Bharat Rang Mahotsav-2005. But first a brief introduction of the man whose contribution to the development of modern Indian Theatre is hardly known to the present generation of theatre goers, the late Rafi Peer (1898-1996), in whose memory his children have set up Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop in Lahore that presented the play.
Rafi Peer Saheb was one of the pioneers of modern theatre in the sub-continent. After graduating from Government College, Lahore, he went to Cambridge to study Law. Proud of his Indian origins, he found it difficult to live in England and after three years he moved to Heidelberg in Germany to study philosophy. From Heidelberg he followed one of his predecessors to Berlin where he came in contact with Reinhardt and finally gave up his philosophy studies and started training in Reinhardt Theatre Ensemble. A few years later, when the political climate changed in Germany, he left the country. Back in India Rafi Peer Saheb plunged into the theatre world in Mumbai and joined the newly set up Indian Academy of Dramatic Arts where he taught acting and direction thus playing an important role in training some of the leading actors of those days.
Peer Saheb wrote some excellent radio and stage plays in Urdu and Punjabi like "Vairi", "Gajar", "Autar", "Sahir", and of course, "Akhin" that still haunts this critic who knew Peer Saheb well and had the honour of acting with him in some of his radio and stage plays.
Peer Saheb also made a name for himself as a film actor playing in Chetan Anand's "Neecha Nagar" that won three awards at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival. After Peer Saheb's death his five sons and two daughters set up the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop that apart from regularly presenting plays, puppet shows and at least three children's plays every week in schools has since 1996 also been organising International Puppet and Theatre Festivals in Lahore.
Satirical ballad
"Patay Khan", written by Imran Peerzada and directed by his brother Usmaan Peerzada is more like a dramatic satirical ballad lampooning kings and feudal lords (call them today's ministers and political leaders, if you like) who ruled in India and Pakistan in the past and even today. The play opens in a small village that could well be in India or Pakistan. People are excited as they wait for the king's arrival hoping that he may do something good for them after he has heard them. But before the king arrives those in charge of law and order scheme and connive not only how to handle the king but also the people.
When the king arrives, instead of listening to the people he orders the festivities to begin. An angry petitioner protests and the king is so upset that he sentences him to life imprisonment. The people rise against the king in revolt and the small village is life in a state of chaos and anarchy.
The play is written and acted in a traditional style of telling folk tales. It has puppets, folk dancers, actors and a lot of poetry and Sufi kalam beautifully rendered by Muhammad Iqbal Bahu and then there are Goonga Sayin and Mithu Sayin as drummers that kept the audience spell bound playing as the two dervishes and then there was Muhammad Iqbal Bahu who with his beautiful voice kept us wanting more and more. Among the actors Kashif Masroor, as the king, Sohrab Khan in the lead role of Patay Khan and Jabar Ali in the double role of a water carrier and Gohar Jan played with immense verve and control and of course the folk dancers brought the roof down with their energy and choreography. Full marks to Usman Peerzaad for giving us a beautiful musical using the basics of Nautanki.
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