Activist, theatre director and dance enigma, Sheema Kirmani, who also runs Tehreek-e-Niswan in Karachi, has had the pleasure of representing Pakistan’s culture on various international platforms.
The activist, theatre director and dance guru talks to Instep about promoting the arts and the need for financial support from the government.
Activist, theatre director and dance enigma, Sheema Kirmani, who also runs Tehreek-e-Niswan in Karachi, has had the pleasure of representing Pakistan’s culture on various international platforms. The woman has never shied away from speaking her mind and her efforts to revive dance in a conservative society is worth all the applause.
Recently spotted at the opening ceremony of Karachi Theatre Festival, Kirmani continues to play her part in promoting arts and culture in Pakistan.
“Theatre has had a very difficult path because there has never been any support for it,” she told Instep on the sidelines of the event. “This time it has some support; now NAPA gets some money, Arts Council gets financial support so we hope that money comes our (the actors and the performers) way too.”
Kirmani will be presenting two plays at the ongoing theatre festival; Manto Mera Dost and Jinnay Lahore Nahi Vekhiya. The first one, Manto Mera Dost (that will be performed on Sunday, November 13) is about Urdu literary giant Saadat Hasan Manto, as told from the perspective of a woman, Ismat Chughtai, who was his lifelong friend. “It’s about how she perceived him and what she wrote about him,” she informed.
The second play, Jinnay Lahore Nahi Vekhiya, will be presented on the closing day (November 21) which, according to Kirmani, is set in Lahore in 1947, just after partition and is about a family that migrates from India and settles in Lahore. “The play shows Hindu-Muslim conflict and how religion has since then been used by certain people for their own interests,” she shared.
Supporting initiatives like these (Karachi Theatre Festival) that allow performers to showcase their talent, Kirmani noted, “I think they’re brilliant and it’s very nice that the festival is happening. The more we do such events, the better it is.”
However, she is not too thrilled with the fact that art and theatre is neglected in our part of the world and never gets the attention it deserves. She believes that the government’s support is very important in this regard.
“I think it is the government that has to play its part and that will make all the difference. The kind of grant they are giving now to the arts council is the reason why they are able to do this. Otherwise people like us have very little opportunities since it is very difficult to find sponsors,” she concluded.
