Daily Times

It has been quite a long time since actress Deepti Gupta and playwright and screenwriter Larry Pontius have entertained us with their respective talents. Larry Pontius has not been writing dramas for Pakistan anymore, nor has his wife Deepti Gupta been showcasing her acting talents on our television screens.

Both of them are being deeply missed, for they entered our industry in the times of experimentation and creativity and had a great role to play in the revival of our dramas.

Pontius is missed because he did not merely have bedroom stories to narrate but mysteries to tell as he did in ‘Qatil’ and ‘Lagta Tou Aisa Hai’, the struggles of South Asians in America as he represented in ‘Blind Spots’, the lonely lives of Pakistani American students to depict as he did in ‘Neeyat’ and comic stories to relate as he did in ‘Coffee Shop’.

Gupta is missed because she broke the stereotype that presence on the screen requires fairness or slimness and acted for the sake of acting, making us realise that if one knows his or her art well, then he or she has the ability to transcend beyond the superficial social structures. She would speak refined Urdu, clear English, make use of her eyes and get involved so deeply into the characters that at times, we would start doubting if it’s a drama or real life. She came as a surprise gift to us, to be treasured and not to be left unattended. But we kept waiting for her after ‘Neeyat’ but to no avail.

We need a versatile writer like Pontius who can write in every genre and we need an actress like Gupta whose focus is on acting only. Both of them had become visibly shining gems in the glowing industry we were in those days.

While we thank them for adding to the revival of our drama industry, Pontius with his scripts and direction and Gupta with her acting, we also request them to come back, for innovation is the need of the time.

The writer is a freelance journalist. He can be reached at m.ali_aquarius85@yahoo.com

Published in Daily Times, February 5^th 2019.