The assassination of Benazir Bhutto plunged Pakistan into sorrow. It sent shock waves across the globe. A charismatic leader, Benazir was leading a struggle for restoration of democracy in Pakistan. A powerful orator, Benazir, on her second homecoming to Pakistan, ignited a ray of hope amongst the masses that were fed up with dictatorship. But, unfortunately, the radicals – in their second attempt – had cut her life short.

Benazir’s life was full of ups and downs. She scaled dizzying heights at times, achieved the pinnacle of success. But, she also had to endure failures, rejections and at times her graph went down into the abyss. Tragedies continued to haunt her.

Discussing about the assassination of Benazir with his friend Jayanta Hazarika triggered a spark in the creative brain of Dhruba Jyoti Sarma, who is a leading playwright and a popular name in the mobile theatre circuit. He thought that the tragic life story of Benazir could be enacted on the stage.

“During a discussion with Krishna Roy, producer of Abahan Theatre, the idea of doing a play on the life of Benazir cropped up. Krishna Roy told me to make an attempt to write a script on her life,” disclosed Dhruba Jyoti Sarma. Abahan Theatre had earlier staged a drama on Lady Diana.

“To write a script on Benazir Bhutto was quite a challenging task. I started browsing the net and went through the Pakistan based newspapers. To get a better insight, I read all the materials I could lay my hands on. To give a proper direction to the story, I decided not to incorporate the political dimension of her life.”

“Resolving to throw light on the romantic angle, I created a character – Prof Joshi, who was her classmate in Oxford. Benazir, who had spurned many proposals, had a deep admiration towards Prof Joshi. Even Prof Joshi silently admired her.”

“I had to modify the script several times to make it perfect. To give the romantic touch, there are four song sequences in the script.”

“To give a realistic touch, I focused on the family life of Benazir, and the play zooms in on her life from her teenage years till her death.”

“Rajesh Bhuyan did full justice to the script and directed the drama to perfection. Special attention was given to the costume of Benazir and the colours which she generally preferred. Going through the videos, we studied her body language, the gestures and the way she waved her hand.”

“Angurlata performed the role of Benazir with aplomb and was instrumental in making the drama a big success. Nayan Nirban as Prof Joshi gave a restrained performance. He was an ideal foil to Angurlata. The others in the cast included Kalpana Sarma as Nursat Bhutto, Chinmoy Kakoti as Zulfiqar Bhutto, Bhupen Deka as Zia ul Haq and Alok Saikia as Masood Ahmed. The perfect coordination among the different characters helped in making Benazir Bhutto a hit among the audience. In fact, in many places, we had to stage double shows on public demand.”

The play starts with the visit of Prof Joshi – Benazir’s Hindustani friend – to Lahore, after Benazir’s assassination. And then, in flash back, the story unfolds. The special effects by Nuruddin Ahmed were quite superb. The graveyard, central jail and Oxford University scenes were realistic enough.In 30 scenes, the tragic life story of the Daughter of the East is put forward without making it a melodrama.

Manish Goswami