ARTICLE
K
Theatre man
Kamal Ahmed Rizvi
amal Ahmed Rizvi’s real forte was theatre and his
contribution to the establishment of an urban theatrical tradition was truly significant. He also showed
his fellow travellers that theatre could be made a source of
earning a living. Most of the artistes before him did theatre
part time while slogging their morning hours in more conventional professions.
It is ironic that the achievement or contribution of a person
is determined by the medium he works for. If it happens to
be a popular medium, a person gets fame and is known in
a wider circle. That in a way overshadows his or her real
contribution in some other area of the arts or even outside
of the arts. Kamal Ahmed Rizvi is popularly known for his
work on television, some of the serials that he scripted,
produced and played roles in like Allan in the famed Alif
Noon serial that ran many times. It was developed from
its original black & white version during the early days of
television in the country. But his work in theatre that of
writing, producing and particularly of directing has largely
gone unnoticed.
For then, as it is now, the staging of a play did not mean
that everything was readymade and cut out. It implied convincing the authorities of the virtues of theatre, running
around in mustering finances for the production, then the
difficult task of writing or adapting a script and finally the
actual direction or acting. What should come at the end
or what should not be the concern of a playwright took up
most of the time and energies, the mounting of a production treated as being the easiest hurdle to cross. Confronting the same set of challenges, the theatre personnel or
playwrights that preceded Rizvi were Khawaja Mueenuddin in Karachi, Imtiaz Ali Taj, Safdar Mir, Ishrat Rehmani in
Lahore followed by Ali Ahmed who migrated from India in
the 1950s. Zia Mohyeddin did a few plays but then left for
England and stayed there for about a decade and a half
making a name for himself on the British stage which was
no mean achievement in itself.
But some stayed back and decided to pull the cart of theatre no matter how steep the incline was. Promilla Thomas,
Safia Deen, Sikandar Shaheen, Naeem Tahir, Khurshid
Shahid, Enver Sajjad, Yasmin Taj (Tahir), Shoaib Hashmi
and Salman Peerzada were just appearing on public stage
after their stints in college plays. The most tenacious of
them, Rizvi, also migrated from India in the early 1950s and
started to work in publishing houses and, in the process,
translated European and American classics. This was his
introduction to Western literature in earnest and drama in
particular. There were many influences to fall back upon
like Russian, French and Spanish literature — mostly European but non-British — and that widened his horizon for
the arts, literature and theatre in general.
The first play he did was Badshahat Ka Khatimah, an adaptation of a Manto script with Zakia Hasan (Sarwar). This
was also the time when Faiz Ahmed Faiz became the secretary of the Alhamra Arts Council in Lahore and wanted
better theatre to be presented on stage. In the 1950s, despite great earnestness, not much was played out on the
Alhamra stage but when Faiz came, there was a more
concerted effort. Plays that were basically western adaptations were staged regularly, mostly by the alumni of Government College, wh