Co-directed by Sarmad Khoosat, who also stars alongside Samiya Mumtaz, Zain Afzal and Iman Shahid, the theatre production is funny enough to elicit roars of laughter and poignant enough for quiet sniffs.
When a brilliant creative like Sarmad Khoosat is directing and acting in a play, all you really need to do is to sit back and be blown away. That is not to discredit the rest of the cast of Jhaanjar Di Paanwaan Chankaar (The Sound of my Anklet’s Bells) which includes veteran actor Samiya Mumtaz as well as the newer but equally engaging and talented Zain Afzal and Iman Shahid.
Premiering at Alhamra Arts Council, and on for another night till it moves to Karachi and Islamabad, this is a theatre play (presented by Olomopolo Media) that has been written by Saeed Rahman and Fatima Maan. It has been co directed by Kanwal Khoosat, who is Irfan Khoosat’s daughter and sister of Sarmad Sultan Khoosat.
If we look at theatre as a source of bringing forth emotions and feelings related to any subject, this play did all that and more. It started off funny, enough to elicit roars of laughter from the crowd and then poignant enough for quiet sniffs from the audience.
The play opened to Zain Afzal’s character Hamza in a very minimal, modern looking set. The first view of the set already establishes a feeling of being put together but also emptiness, as one soon realizes it mirrors the character’s life. He meets Sarmad Khoosat’s character Zaman, who lives in the apartment opposite him and they immediately hit it off. Through their wardrobe one can tell about the polarity of their characters; Zaman in a checkered shirt worn open with a black tank top peeking through along denim shorts and Hamza in chinos and a buttoned up shirt.
Hamza is an aspiring musician who’s been in shackles for 28 years, not because he’s visually impaired but because his mother has kept him on a very tight leash. She lets him move out from the nest for two months to try and make it on his own but is still more involved in his life than he’d like. Sarmad plays an actor who is working on a film where he plays someone who doesn’t conform to gender norms. He practices his dance routines for the film with Zain and there is some chemistry there, beyond friendship. Additionally, his song and dance routine is a nostalgic display of what Pakistani cinema used to be, making the play a modern, relatable storyline that is deeply rooted in our culture and cinematic history.
The play further develops as Zain’s mother, played brilliantly by Samiya Mumtaz, comes to Zain’s apartment. Their exchanges highlight how she has inadvertently held her son back from so much by trying to protect him. Both characters are trying to prove something to each other in Zain’s new life. His mother has come into his new life and is coming to terms with her ideas about life that are being challenged. The fourth character is Iman’s who’s a filmmaker from Columbia and has returned to her hometown to make some films that push boundaries. We see her having friction with the mother who represents an older, more conservative generation.
There is a scene in which Zain also comes out to his mother and she is seen struggling to deal with the information. While Iman talks about making a film that subverts norms, Jhaanjar Di Paanwaan Chankaar is quietly revolutionary in its own manner. You have to watch it to find out more!
