Daily Times

Ajoka Theatre will mark the 78th Independence Day, in collaboration with the Punjabi Institute of Language, Art & Culture (PILAC), with a special performance of its acclaimed play “Uddanhare” (Ready to Fly).

The play is based on testimonies of Partition survivors recorded by the Oral History Project of the National History Museum and will be staged at Alhamra Arts Centre on Saturday 10th August.

Uddanhaare has been written and directed by Ajoka’s Shahid Nadeem.

The story revolves around the eye-witness accounts of the Partition and led to the infamous massacre in August 1947. The narrator of the story is a young boy named Akhlaq whose narrative is interwoven with his friend Haleema and their pet pigeons Raja and Rani. While the Sikh and Hindu communal parties are planning a bloodbath, a childless Sikh couple showers its love on the besieged Muslim families. It is not just a tale of hate and violence but also of noble human values of hope, peace, and humanity.

The play, like most Ajoka plays, includes enchanting songs and dance and keeps the audience engaged despite its grim subject. The title “Uddanhare” is taken from the great Sufi poet Hazrat Sultan Bahu’s famous verse:

(need not clap your hands to startle us, We are ready to fly anyway).

The cast includes Naseem Abbas, Usman Raj, Usman Zia, Azka Lateef, Haifa Mudassar, Mohammed Qaiser, Anish Khan and Kanwal Khan.