BOOM December 2015 | Page 9

REPORT Did the Faiz International Festival live up to the legend it celebrates? L egends like Tahira Syed, Tina Sani and veteran Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah enthralled Lahore along with upcoming singing sensations Ali Sethi and, from across the border, Sonam Kalra. What brought them all to one place? The Faiz International Festival. The first edition of the Faiz International Festival concluded this Sunday; the four-day event at Alhamra, The Mall and Faletti's Hotel boasted of a line-up of distinguished speakers, stellar performers and some very exciting topics for discussion. Not only this, but literary and political talk sessions, a mushaira, dance performances, book launches, theatre and puppetry workshops and Punjabi plays were also part of this diverse festival, organised by the Faiz Foundation Trust in collaboration with the Lahore Arts Council. But the festival plan wasn’t the only thing that was diverse. The audience was too: from children under 10 to senior citizens, they were all there. Day 1 and day 2: Getting off to a slow start Despite this, the festival did display some teething problems. The first day, Nov 19, did not have much to offer except ceremonial inaugural speeches and a play by Ajoke Theatre, Rozan-i-Zindan Se. The second day kicked off with a keynote address by Urdu novelist and critic Shamsur Rehman Faruqi. The programme for the rest of the day had some exciting sessions to look forward to, including Tahira Syed and S.M. Zafar discussing ‘Faiz and Malika Pukhraj’ with Arshad Mehmood; ‘Novel ka Fun’ with Mustansar Husain Tarar and Ayub Khawar; Intizar Husain in conversation with Asif Farrukhi; a tribute to Pakistani women political and social activists by some mighty women including Faiz’s daughter Salima Hashmi, Zahida Hina, Khawar Mumtaz, Fehmida Riaz, Mariam Ortt-Saeed and Dr Fouzia Saeed who all shared their stories of struggle; and a Punjabi play, Chog Kusumbay Di, by Najm Hosain Syed and directed by Huma Safdar; among others. Also part of the second day's line-up was a discussion on a book, Gaata Rahe Mera Dil: 50 Classic Hindi Film Songs, by Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal, with Bhattacharjee as a panellist and Mira Hashmi and Ali Aftab Saeed as the moderators. Looking at this in the schedule would excite an R.D. Burman fan beyond anything, but what one got mostly was some of Pancham’s songs — something that could easily have been done at home. It would have been nice if the moderators had asked the author questions related to the book and his research, or to give an us insight into Pancham the composer.Naeema Butt’s Pehlaj Theatre also held a workshop the same day on ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’. 9 | BOOM