Sabz Review

SABZ, the Revolutionary musical Urdu theatre play, created history. With beautiful choreography, commendable acting, and an outstanding script, it was indeed wothy of a full round of applause.

Produced by Umer Hameed (Hazaar Dastaan) and directed by Abdullah Farhatullah, the play had seven characters. The story revolved around a talented, well-known director aspiring to produce a serious play that gives a patriotic message. The characters of his ‘play’ represent the real life characters of today. Naveed (Yasir Hussain), a typical Pakistani youngster of today who looks like a victim of western cultural hegemony but cares deep down, Mansoor (Muaz Raja) who is concerned with his acting skills and career more than anything else, the modern Roshni aka ‘Rosh’ (Jannat Nekokara) who could not care less about anything that goes on outside her world which starts after the 5 metre radius of her vicinity. Kami’s assistant (Qudsia Sajjad) also played a significant role in bringing out the real issues on the table. The supposed ‘anticlimax’ of the play is when Rana Sahib (Raza Shah) refuses to produce anything in his studio that does not contain ‘item numbers’. The climax is when Kami, on Naveed’s provocation and support, tie up Rana on the day of performance and perform Sabz, a strong patriotic play.

It was, no doubt, an experiment that hit the point. The characters were real life characters. The music was fantastic, all songs that were played were situational songs. Although some may object to the Indian songs, they were all well received by the audience. The play had it all: music, drama, comedy, wits, mockery, everyday life references, dance, romance, and above all, patriotic theme. The mockery, witty remarks, several references to real life, Indian and Pakistani film industry and its celebrities kept hold of the audience who could relate to it all.

The Express Tribune, January 10th, 2011, called it “an experiment that paid off”, “a play which invokes patriotic feelings and sends out a powerful message”.

The seven standing ovations were well deserved for the entire team of SABZ

Review By Sidrah Kaleem and Anum Iqbal

your comments:

1 COMMENT

  1. “Sabz was a huge success, it created history.” -the last sentence says it all.. it was beautiful, reached out, touched deep inside.. thank u to the hazaar daastan team for bringing out such an inspirational play. wish u all the success in the future!

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