Daily Times

The 21-day “Awami Theatre Festival,” organized by Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi, concluded, celebrating the vibrant colours of theatre.

The closing ceremony was attended by Provincial Minister for Culture Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah as a special guest.

While prominent artists, including Sheema Kermani, Iqbal Latif, Shakeel Shah, Rizwan Sabir, Shabbir Bhatti, Younis Memon, Wajiha Waris, Danish Baloch, Tasneem Rana, Khadim Hussain Uchvi, Zahoor Malik, Hameed Rathore, Ilyas Nadeem, Adam Rathore, Jameel Rahi, Saleem Afridi, Zakir Mastana, Parvez Siddiqui, H. Iqbal, Aftab Kamdar, Rauf Lala, Rafiq Esani, Nauman Khan, and others, attended the ceremony.

The festival showcased 26 plays in various languages, including urdu, Sindhi, Pashto, Saraiki, and Memoni. During the ceremony, Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah highlighted the significance of such an event.

He said that ” Arts Council of PakistanKarachi and the Sindh Department of Culture will continue taking steps for the welfare of artists. I congratulate Ahmed Shah and his team for successfully organizing the Awami Theatre Festival.

Pakistan is not short of talent.

The Department of Culture will always support the Arts Council. We are fortunate to have rivers, mountains, glaciers and snow for tourism. I also thank the media for promoting Pakistan’s soft image globally. Minister said ” He announced a cash reward of 25,000 PKR for each director on behalf of the SindhDepartment of Culture.

On this occasion , the President Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi Muhammad Ahmed Shah said that Over 500 artists performed during the Awami Theatre Festival. I pay tribute to all the directors and artists.”

Awards and shields were presented to artists recognized for their outstanding direction, including Shakeel Shah, Adam Rathore, Saleem Afridi, Zakir Mastana, Parvez Siddiqui, Aftab Kamdar, Rauf Lala, Nazar Hussain, Rafiq Aisani, Sheema Kermani, Nauman Khan, H. Iqbal, Jameel Rahi, Ali Roshan, Rizwan Sabir, Shabbir Bhatti, Younis Memon, Wajiha Waris, Danish Baloch, Tasneem Rana, Khadim Hussain Uchvi, Zahoor Malik, Hameed Rathore, Ilyas Nadeem, and Zahid Shah.

Following the ceremony, Zahid Shah’s satirical and reformist play “Batwara” was performed. The cast, including Shanzeh, Javed Takani, Sidra Sheikh, Jibran Khan, Arif Babli, Faiza Malik, Huzaifa Shah, Sehr Ghazal, Talha Bhojani, and Zahid Shah, delivered stellar performances. The audience highly appreciated the play, expressing their admiration with enthusiastic applause.