REPORT
Irfan had the audience in splits when he spoke about
his experience of being directed by his son, who would
have him give multiple shots. Sarmad also talked about
how he initially felt awkward directing his father, but later
when he became comfortable, he also started loving his
father more and understanding why Irfan wasn’t around
much when his kids were growing up. The father-son
duo gave several moments to the audience to applaud
with their anecdotes and candid camaraderie. All three
speakers credited Yasmeen Tahir for introducing them
to radio where their journeys began. Navid also asked
both Irfan and Sarmad about the cinema and TV of
yesteryear and today with her having experienced both
eras. They also talked about Sarmad’s “labour of love
and hard work”, as he called it, Manto, with Navid sharing her reservations about the film and how some of its
aspects did not impress her.Meanwhile, outside in the
lawn, Huma Safdar’s Fareed Rang theatre group performed ‘Avaeen Nahi Oo Gal’, a Punjabi play by Najm
Hosain Syed, drawing a huge crowd, much more than
the sessions inside had, that stayed on till the end. The
play revolved around politics of the Left, factory workers and the language divide. The theatre group, consisting of amateur actors, performed to perfection. The play
was dotted with Punjabi songs and dances.Generally,
the four-day event was a promising first attempt at taking
Faiz internationally. It was largely promoted through its
Facebook page, which mainly attracted those following
activities of the Faiz Ghar besides a few others, explaining the very thin attendance on the first three days. Had
it been properly advertised, it would have been a muchneeded window for the younger generation into the wonder that was Faiz. Also, some of the sessions failed to
live up to the interest the topics had generated, possibly
due to moderators not engaging panellists through interesting questions or in educational conversation. The
organisers could have done away with a few sessions
completely that had nothing to do with Faiz; a limited
programme overall would have served the purpose in a
much better way. Here’s looking forward to an improved
second instalment of the Faiz International Festival.
11 | BOOM