An allegory of gang-infested Karachi

A short thriller was staged on Friday at the Arts Council of Pakistan where the Pakistan Theatre Festival is under way till Sunday, October 8.

Titled ‘The Finest Cutter’, the play was written and directed by the duo of Mazhar Suleman Noorani and Syed Muntazir. Farhan Alam Siddiqui played the protagonist Maqsood who is a tailor expert in stitching suits. The other cast members included Hammad Khan, Rahil Siddiqui, Komal Hayat, Asad Gojar and Rizwana.

The setting of the play resembled Karachi before the 2013 operation as it showed armed mafias having a political cover fighting each other.

It started with an impressive shootout scene between two armed groups down the stage. It followed with a conversation between a foreign agent and a local agent about the foreign government’s involvement in the local politics. That conversation seemed unnecessary as it created some expectations about the plot, which were not met as the story went on with no role of a foreign agent.

The rest of the play was set in the shop of the tailor where Jasir, the son of the supreme leader of a political party who is referred to as Bhai Jaan, arrives in an injured state with a loyal worker of the party. He has been injured in a shootout and the two find refuge in the tailor’s shop.

Initially, it seems that the tailor is an unfortunate person who gets embroiled in the gang war. However, as the story unfolds, his true colours are revealed as being ‘the finest cutter’, and he successfully dismantles the armed mafias.

It was an interesting watch with fine performances but the script could have been refined to fill the loopholes. The play ended within an hour and its duration could have been increased with a more elaborate plot.

On its penultimate day today (Saturday), the theatre festival offers a monologue by Peerzada Salman, Pir Acche Aur Mir Baqar Ali, and a comedy, Love@70.