KARACHI: The 13th Karachi Literature Festival 2022 took place on March 4, 5 and 6 and saw a massive crowd that had come out in droves to listen to their favourite speakers, discussing some of the most pressing questions that face Pakistani literature, journalism and other forms of art.
One such art form that was discussed at KLF was TV. Titled ‘TV Drama Ke Badaltay Naqoosh’, the panel featured Sultana Siddiqui, Ahmed Ali Akbar, Munawar Saeed, Marina Khan, and Ushna Shah as speakers, discussing how TV has progressed over the years.
Speaking of scripts, the conversation pivoted towards Ahmed Ali Akbar’s praiseworthy performance in Parizaad, and Raju Jamil asked Ahmed what he thought of the script when he first got it. “I rejected it when I first read it,” answered Ahmed. “I asked, why is this role offered to me? This person doesn’t look like me.”
But Momina Duraid of MD productions was insistent that Ahmed did Parizaad. “For a few months, I was busy looking at other scripts but then the AD of the production really insisted I look at it again, so I did. I’ll have to give credit to Momina Duraid; she wanted me to play the role.”
Did Ahmed know back then that the play would be this huge?
“I knew that the script was special, and it was bound to stand out. But I had no idea that it would be this successful and bring me so much fame. I’m also really grateful to the audience for also recognizing and appreciating the beauty of the story,” he shared.
