It appears that the limelight has been stolen by the festivals held in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. Many more are hosted by cities like Faisalabad and Sialkot. These events have been held regularly, year after year, and the impression that it was a one-off event or just a flash in the pan has been dispelled.

These festivals or melas are spread over three or four days and usually comprise talk, talk and talk. Famous people from the worlds of literature, art, show business and fashion politics and journalism talk about or discuss various points that need to be discussed or understood in a society. This has belied some of the assumptions that are usually laid out for societies like ours - multicultural, uneven, and facing the onslaughts of foreign cultures.

In the evenings, some of these festivals or melas have cultural shows, dance numbers, a play or a mushaira. These are surprisingly well-attended and a variety of subjects engage the attention of the audience. People, it seems, love to listen to people who matter and hear them talk because the number of books that are published in the country has not shown an upward trend or significant rise in the print orders.

This has been an eventful year. There was never a dull moment in the country. Often an unexplainable development followed. Then there was political instability at home and significant events happening abroad. Some of the events happening in Afghanistan caused policy changes that are having an adverse effect on the cultural and social life of the country. The events in Ukraine, and more recently the appalling situation in Gaza, have had an impact on the people, especially the educated ones, in the country.

Despite all the good intentions, the Pakistani films failed to make a comeback. The so called comeback was limited to a few films. Overall, the industry did not take off despite much talk, supportive policies and will. A few were satisfactory productions but did not lead to a revival of the cinema. The Return of Maula Jatt became the biggest grossing movie in the history of Pakistani cinema. Many other films – some of them made with greater sensitivity - were censored or banned because some of the topics or areas are not considered kosher in the country. These thus remained unseen by most people. Strict censorship does not allow many subjects to be exploited for cinema. In a taboo-ridden society, the tame and the same alone can flourish.

The caretaker government in the Punjab has been quite active. It has held two large festivals featuring music, literary meetings, plays and skits as well as culinary activity. Initially, there were some objections in view of the events in Gaza but then in the face of the events taking place, the insistence of certain lobbies just whittled away. As there were no large scale protests against what is happening in the Middle East, it was more a cut and run affair and sporadic point scoring. For the layman, it was life as usual as there was little respite from the immense inflationary pressure.

Many noted figures died during the year: Zia Mohyeddin, Shoaib Hashmi, Nisar Qadri, Hussain Buksh Gullu, Badar-uz Zaman, Amjad Islam Amjad, Shakeel, Qavi Khan, Majid Jahangir and Wassu Khan among them.

Zia Mohyeddin was among the artists who returned to their homeland after making a mark in the West. He was determined to make the distinction between the good and the banal obvious. As a pioneer he broke through many ceilings and established himself as a theatre person in West End before anyone else from the subcontinent. He played the role of Dr Aziz in A Passage to India, which would have previously gone to a white actor. He paved the way for many more to follow in his footsteps in Pakistan. At the National Academy of Performing Arts, he set the bar high. Others struggled to come to terms with this.

Shaoib Hashmi’s career was obstructed by alleged political affiliations. For long, he was barred him from appearing on the state-run media. Qavi Khan, in a way, established the contours of television acting as distinct from radio and films.

The private television productions have been in currency and are watched by a large number of people. The content varies from catering to popular taste and being slightly offbeat but not too much.

The writer is a culture critic based in Lahore