A poignant account of love brought to life on stage

Finding the recitation of Qudratullah Shahab’s piece Chandravati from his well-known autobiography Shahabnama in the programme of the Pakistan Theatre Festival 2023 had left many curious about how it would be executed.

The official booklet of the festival said veteran actor Rehan Sheikh would narrate Chandravati. This suggested that it might be something similar to what the late Zia Mohyeddin did: standing on a podium and reading literary pieces. And were Sheikh to emulate Mohyeddin, would he be able pull it off, one would naturally ask.

However, as the curtains opened, a proper set was revealed with a writing table on the front, and various seating arrangements such as a bamboo stool and other items such as a charpoy and a bicycle.

It was a monologue performance in which Sheikh assumed the role of Shahab remembering his love affair with a Hindu girl Chandravati during his college years. There was lots of movement along with auditory and visual aid.

Those who have read Shahabnama may remember how Shahab would travel with Chandravati across Lahore on a bicycle. At first, he did not own one and would rent it. Later, he purchased one to ensure that the vehicle was available any time he had the chance to go for an outing with the girl.

Interestingly, Chandravati was religiously quite orthodox when it came to utensils, as she would not allow Shahab to use a glass for drinking or a plate for eating. However, she was liberal enough when it came to riding pillion with a Muslim.

The bicycle on the stage was a constant visual aid, but whenever Sheikh began talking about a bicycle trip, a bike bell ring would be heard. A similar auditory aid was a devotional song that was played when the narration of Data Darbar began. And the sound of burning logs was heard when Chandravati was being cremated in the end.

The tragic story began with Shahab’s first encounter with the girl at a library where they engage in a conflict as they both wanted to borrow the same book. However, when Chandravati finds out Shahab had got a prize for writing an English essay, she requests him to be her tutor. He happily agrees.

A college student, Chandravati lives at an ashram in Lahore. Her mother is a widow working as a domestic servant in another town. After Shahab begins teaching her, slowly and gradually his infatuation grows.

It is not Platonic love, and since it cannot be easily consummated, Shahab once bursts out in his sexual frustration and starts wandering the streets of Lahore in the late night hours.

It is then that he reaches Data Darbar. He tries to pray there for the fulfilment of his desire but feels deeply embarrassed to do so. There he achieves catharsis, and the following day, he shows not the slightest sign of being a flirt when he sees Chandravati.

The girl, who had earlier reacted strongly when he once became overtly romantic with her, now cannot tolerate his romantic side altogether gone. She gets irritable day by day, and one day when Shahab goes to meet her, he finds that she has left Lahore.

This sudden departure rekindles his love, but perhaps it has now taken the Platonic form. He goes to the other town and finds Chandravati uninterested in continuing her education. She has started sewing clothes so that she could earn enough money to take her mother to Banaras where they could have ablutions in the sacred Ganges River.

Shahab tries to help her and finds a job to send money to Chadravati so that she and her mother could go to Banaras, but when he meets her, he finds she has contracted incurable tuberculosis, and owing to the disease, she and her mother have been ostracised. He tries to help her in whatever possible way he can, but she dies.

Sheikh had the book in his hand as he narrated the story. He expertly continued juggling with reading the story, moving around and facing the audience with the required emotion. This, though, sometimes resulted in unclear words.

But when he effortlessly cried at the end of the story, everyone was awestruck. It was a moving ending. Seeing someone in genuine tears on stage has an altogether different, enriching effect, which cannot be compared to watching a weeping character on the screen.

Earlier, Arts Council Theatre Academy head Zeeshan Hyder had introducted Sheikh as someone who had inspired a generation of theatre artistes. He said Sheikh had been acting on stage not only in Pakistan but also in the United Kingdom.