• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FUCHSIA

FUCHSIA MAGAZINE

FUCHSIA
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contributing Writers
    • Editorial Team
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
  • Entertainment
  • Fashion
  • Community
  • Food & Health
  • Archives
    • Community Archives
    • Entertainment Archives
    • Fashion Archives
    • Food & Health Archives
    • Reader’s Ramblings
  • Advertise With Us
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / Entertainment / Sexual Abuse As Chronicled In the Play, “Lights Out” at NAPA

Sexual Abuse As Chronicled In the Play, “Lights Out” at NAPA

July 22, 2019 By Maryam Ahmad Leave a Comment

by Maryam Ahmad
July 22, 2019July 23, 2019Filed under:
  • Entertainment

Cases of sexual abuse are making the news right, left and center and getting close to no attention from the government, let alone officials of the state.

Four policemen were recently arrested for allegedly raping a 22 year-old woman in Rawalpindi on Saturday. The victim was forced into a car before taking turns, subjecting her to rape.

Sexual Abuse Is On The Rise In Pakistan

Sahil, an NGO working on child protection, in their annual 2018 report claims 12 children face some sort of abuse in Pakistan every day. With the obvious gender divide, females facing sexual abuse more than males. Unlike older times this brutal reality no longer serves as an anecdote rather it fleshes itself out as routine happening.

Art for centuries has been used as a form of resistance. Even if Pakistan actively tries to dissociate art from society, it still finds its way.

Such was also the case with one of NAPA’s recent plays that chronicled the sad tale of sexual abuse. Yet another masterpiece delivered by Fawad Khan, an alumina and a faculty member of NAPA, after the sweeping success of “chup”. The audience is kept in the “dark” literally and metaphorically during his latest play, “Lights Out”.

What Is “Lights Out” About?

The play revolves around Laila and Rahat, a married couple arguing about certain audible “screams”. Since these screams have been persistent for quite a while, Laila insists on calling the police, while Rahat keeps beating about the bush and refuses to take any substantial action. Laila, whilst scared, is also at the same time disgusted. She does a brilliant job keeping the audience on the edge of their seats keen to know the origins of the on-going screams.

As the play progresses, Danish, Nena and Sikandar join the couple on stage. Throughout the hour long play Danish and Rahat try to figure out the kind of screams they are. Time and again we see them arguing, categorizing, belittling these audibly feminine screams. Danish insists on this being a result of a religious ritual, while Rahat is of the belief the women going through this might even be enjoying this. Rahat at the end even hints that “such women” deserve such treatment in an attempt to belittle sex workers.

Tension thickens in the air as the audience gets to know that both, Rahat and Danish know full well what is going on since, they are first hand eye witnesses. Not so surprisingly, Danish had decided to come over the minute Rahat informs him of such a happening in his neighborhood. Nena, then remains our only ray of hope, who is also the first person to use the word “rape” in the play.

Left to right: Laila, Rahat and Danish.

The cast – Kiran Siddiqui as Laila, Samhan Ghazi as Rahat, Meesam Naqvi as Sikandar, Kulsoom Aftab as Nena Farhan Alam as Danish – outdoes itself it terms of expressions and deliver-ability. Kudos to the director who brilliantly portrays the insensitivity of such a sensitive issue.

Drawing laughs and giggles, here and there, it would be a shame to say that the ending was nothing short of cliffhanger-cum-thought provoking displeasure.

It is quite frankly, very refreshing to see theater in Pakistan highlighting issues pertaining to women and making the audience uncomfortable. It is, if not abundantly, helping in initiating dialogue which is a start.

The play is an Urdu adaption of Manjula Padmanabhan’s Lights Out, based on an eye witness account of the incident that took place in Santa Cruz, Mumbai in 1982.

What Will We Teach Our Sons?

The Tale: Filmmaker Jennifer Fox Weaves A Cautionary Narrative

Maryam Ahmad

Maryam’s a Communication and Design major and an English and Comparative Literature minor at Habib University. She thoroughly enjoys reading South Asian Literature and is a Partition Literature enthusiast, who is often found admiring the origins of cultural theory.

While one may occasionally find her at events catering to art and culture in Karachi, she would much rather be home binge-watching British comedy.

Get in touch at maryamahmad_1@hotmail.com

Post navigation

Previous Post Adeel Chaudry – Who’s More Steamy, The Dish Or The Chef?
Next Post What Will We Teach Our Sons?

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Archives
  • Community
  • Community Archives
  • Entertainment
  • Entertainment Archives
  • Fashion
  • Fashion Archives
  • Featured
  • Featured Post
  • Food & Health
  • Food & Health Archives
  • Reader's Ramblings
  • Reader’s Ramblings
  • Uncategorized

Tags

2020 actors Bilal Abbas Bollywood Cricket drama Drama Gup drama review Dramas drama writer Entertainment fashion filmmaking Food food review food trends fuchsia fuchsia magazine HumTV Imran Ashraf india indian Indian TV Serials karachi Movie movie review netflix pakistan pakistan entertainment pakistani actors Pakistani Culture Pakistani drama pakistani dramas pakistani television Pakistani Web Series PSL Sabaat Sajal sajal aly sarah Khan tv shows Web series winters women Yeh Dil Mera

Recent Posts

  • Raqeeb Se: Will We be Watching After The First Episode?
  • Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows – Are You Missing Desi Humor In Your Life? We Have A Book That will Make You Laugh Out Loud!
  • 3 Pakistan Dramas That Need To be Made To Give Us Meaningful Stories & High Ratings!
  • Dil Na Umeed To Nahi – First Episode Review & Did We Love It Or Like It?
  • Get The Western Look Right With Zarnish Khan in Mantra!
  • Eye On The Prize – If You Are Looking For A Perfect Book In The Family Genre, We’ve One For You!
  • Sunday Breakfast Bake: Eggs & Cheese Taste Great In The Oven!
  • Sajal Aly’s Working Under Jemima Goldsmith’s ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’

Archives

Categories

  • Archives
  • Community
  • Community Archives
  • Entertainment
  • Entertainment Archives
  • Fashion
  • Fashion Archives
  • Featured
  • Featured Post
  • Food & Health
  • Food & Health Archives
  • Reader's Ramblings
  • Reader’s Ramblings
  • Uncategorized

About Us

Advertise With Us

Footer

Categories

  • Archives
  • Community
  • Community Archives
  • Entertainment
  • Entertainment Archives
  • Fashion
  • Fashion Archives
  • Featured
  • Featured Post
  • Food & Health
  • Food & Health Archives
  • Reader's Ramblings
  • Reader’s Ramblings
  • Uncategorized

Advertise With Us

© 2021 - FUCHSIA. All rights reserved.

Follow Us
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube