• March 11, 2013
• Arts and Entertainment
• Web Desk

By: Rahib Raza

Girish Karnad, a writer, actor and director from India, came to pay his tribute to Pakistani literature and poetry. He gave details about theatre and films being in contrast to culture, tradition and politics. He admired prominent names of literature Saadat Hassan Manto, Ismat Chughtai and Faiz Ahmad Faiz and their contribution for being an inspiration even in India as national poets and writers, India admires them.

Karnad said, “I am here to pay my tribute to them actually and I look forward to having some effect.” While explaining the evolution of theatre in Pakistan he stated it came after 1947, whereas in India as in subcontinent the theatre has roots since 18th century.

Girish Karnad said, “Indarsabha was the first where even Nawabs of Lucknow danced in, they were many important writers in India writing about Mahabharat and Ramayan since the audience was Hindu and the owners were Parsis it evolved immensely until it was killed by the films.”

The writer, actor and poet believed that both the countries are politically stable yet struggling with their issues; he believed that Pakistan does consider news as a primary source of entertainment and also the television serials that are very poor in quality from India are being watched a lot here too, he said, “me being an outsider I would say TV has consumed a huge audience though I think both the countries are politically stable, stability is not undoubted.”

Karnad emphasised that Pakistan could grow into theatre and in films but when Indian film industry would let it blossom, he believed that since actors like Noor Jehan coming from India the industry began from 1940’s in Pakistan, but since Indian films have been introduced in Pakistan now, he said, “Indian films have dominated Pakistani film industry, this battle should be fought the audience will grow for Pakistani cinema eventually.”

He stated that the success of Indian film industry is because they didn’t stop producing. Finally with the introduction of the film with songs “Alamara” Indian industry was revolutionised. Girish Karnad said, “so when you have a big brother next door not letting you to grow obviously you would have problems.”

He quoted Amitab Bachan, as he almost suffered bankruptcy, putting his house on sale, yet continuing the struggle. Girish said, “You have to be disciplined and there is no key to hard work, in my movie ‘Ek tha Tiger’ Salman Khan had cramped neck yet he worked. You have to train yourself, read books and go through discussions.”

Mr Girish Karnad also focused on the difference of writing a play and the films. He said, “when you write for films it’s not the final product, songs come in, it gets edited and so on the outcome changes completely, whereas in theatre it is put exact the same way as it is written, you write like a creative person.” Karnad also mentioned the importance of mother tongue and tradition to execute the writing for both. “Language is very important I could not write in Konkani because it was an oral language with lullabies and folk songs but you could not write a play, so I took up Kanada which was a state language and had a literal tradition.”

He highlighted the problem of Punjabi language being diminished in Punjab and opposed the current system of having education in selective mediums of language.

Karnad said, “Pakistan should also have state languages as India, we study both the state and the national language, children can learn multiple languages.” He focused on government’s responsibility to save Punjabi and not to follow Europeans studying under English medium.

He also highlighted the importance of training. “Only a guru can tell you what the craft is, talent is inborn and then you train to develop skills.”

He said primary goal from theatre and films is money, success of a film matters to a big star and not to the character actor. “It gets easy, it also differs from person to person such as Naseer Udin Shah he is a born actor, and his opinion may differ.”

Commenting on the last year’s controversy on VS Naipaul, a well-known writer, he said, “Well, somebody who came to India at the age of 25 years and doesn’t know any of the state languages, how can he be a critic to the local issues, he may be an excellent English writer but how would he know the history here, he is a brilliant writer yet he has taken Indians for a ride and if Indians want to go on that ride it’s their choice.”

He also mentioned Rabindranath Tagore saying “He is a great poet, short story writer; his plays were not that good and was a very casual comment.”

Karnad had also condemned the demolition of Babri Masjid and stating on religious tolerance, he said, “Pakistan should look after themselves, I would comment on Indians, though Indian Muslims have been very good, Muslims there chose to live in a secular state of India, that is why I am against the right wing of India they are creating problems that don’t exist. India and Pakistan have very different issues here it is a conflict of Shiites and Sunni, there on an electoral level we face riots between Hindus and Muslims, what Narindra Moodi did in Gujrat, it is just to win elections so you get air time.”

Karnad also showed interest in working with Pakistan’s theatre in recent months to come considering it very important for both the countries. “If Britain and Germany who destroyed each other and yet formed European Union, so why can’t we do the same in subcontinent, of course there would be tensions but our economic goals are the same and we would benefit from them. This should be taken up on state level; we would cater all sorts of social issues such as women’s education.”

On cultural identity of both Indians and Pakistanis, Karnad said, “It depends on what level are you on, what caste and language you have, I think Pakistan should be marked on linguistics, then there is identity of religion and then comes if you are rich or poor.” He also stated the root cause of communal violence in India. “The whole purpose of communal violence is on basis of elections, they are intended to run political games in India and it is a known fact.”

Source: Dawn