Folk Theatre Festival kicks off

The Punjab Council of Arts (PCA) is the organiser of the eight-day event. Folk artists of Lahore presented their performances on the first day. Jutt brothers presented a folk play named ‘Sohna Zaini’. The drama was the story of a landlord’s son Sohna and a poor man’s daughter Zaini. Sohna leaves home, abandons his life of luxury and starts living with Zaini.

The artists’ performance was highly appreciated by the audience. One of the viewers said that the artists presented Punjab’s real culture that most people were forgetting. He said that the government should also appreciate such performances.

Another viewer at the event said that she liked the performance of the artists, as they were the people who were keeping the Punjabi culture alive. She said that globalisation had damaged the Punjabi culture as many people were adopting foreign culture and foreign values.

PCA Executive Director Ghulam Mustafa said while talking to Daily Times that the purpose of the theatre festival was to promote the true Punjabi culture and values. He said that folk artists and teams of various regions of Punjab, including Lahore, Multan, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur and Gujranwala would participate in the event and would present their folk culture, dramas and songs.