dailytimes.com.pk
Staff Report
Friday, December 30, 2011



ISLAMABAD: Exposing dual standards of Pakistani people against Americans, Ajoka Theatre presented its stage play ‘Amreeka Chalo’ (Destination USA) for the first time in capital making a strong statement about sensitive and serious issues in a satiric way.

This stage play - an Ajoka Production, Lahore was the 21st stage play out of total 22 included in ‘National Drama Festival-2011’ organised by Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA), with an aim to promote theatre art in country.

Written by Shahid Mehmood Nadeem and directed by his spouse Madeeha Gohar, this Urdu comedy play was a light-hearted, self-critical view of double standards, hypocrisies that mocks the love-hate relationship between Pakistan and the USA.

The set, which displayed images of different American icons including king of Pop- Michael Jackson and superstar Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie made quite an impact on the packed hall auditorium of PNCA.

Correctly depicting the incongruity between the public’s hate for US policies and its relative fascination of the US lifestyle, the play raised several interesting questions especially those regarding the contradictory nature of American policies towards military interventions, drone attacks and its definition of liberty, freedom and morality.

Set at the visa section of the US embassy, where a number of applicants for the US visa have gathered for interviews, the play starts off with the song “Chalo Chalo America” which has been composed primarily for the play. The visa seekers include a businessman, a probable illegal immigrant, a student, a puppeteer, a politician, a cleric and the aged parents of a Pakistani-American resident. Each one of the visa seekers has a completely different reason for visiting the land of opportunity, ranging from seeking refuge, pursuing an academic career to even selling samosas.

During the visa processing, a US official named Raymond who is in charge of the security comes into the limelight. Although Raymond isn’t overtly dubbed homosexual, his tendencies are evident from the special attention he pays to the male applicants.

One of the most interesting situations in the play takes place when a US embassy visa counsellor tells the eight visa seekers that only four of them will get the US visa as the quota set for the day has been reached.

Strangely enough, a little while later, suicide bombers raid the embassy and take all the embassy officials as well as the visa seekers hostage. The billboard outside the embassy quickly changes from ‘Welcome to America’ to ‘Welcome to Waziristan’. After successful negotiations with the US official, the matter is finally settled when the demands of the terrorists are met.

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