“I have tried to do justice to this epic love story where the writing brings an entire era alive,” says Sarmad Khoosat

The acclaimed director and actor reads Qurratulain Hyder’s classic short story ‘Nazzarah Darmyan Hai’ in Zee Theatre’s offering, ‘Yaar Julahay’

Qurratulain Hyder’s classic short story ‘Nazzarah Darmyan Hai’ is close to the heart of renowned director and actor Sarmad Sultan Khoosat who features in the second episode of Zee Theatre’s ‘Yaar Julahay,’ a series of dramatic readings. Sarmad says, “‘Nazzarah Darmyan Hai’ conveys a lifetime of longing and is an ode to love and loss. I am truly fortunate that I got to read it foraudiences around the world.”

Hyder was a Sahitya Academy, Jnanpith and Padma Bhushan awardee and a trailblazing Urdu novelist, short story writer, academic and journalist. In ‘Nazzarah Darmyan Hai’, she has woven together class differences, societal norms, economic needs and unwanted compromises that force lovers to let go of each other and deviate from what they want. The episode will be screened on DishTV D2H Rangmanch Active throughout this week.

Says Sarmad, “The story has an expansive plot, a lot of drama, a flash-forward, a flashback, many characters and a scale that is almost epic. The team and I have tried to do justice to this love story where the writing brings an entire era alive.”

In order to reflect the narrative’s period and milieu, an opulent set of a Parsi home was created complete with a grand piano that had to be carted from another city. Sarmad was also styled to perfection to look like someone who has been abroad and is impeccably fashionable. He recalls, “During the shoot, I had to make sure that beneath the many layers of my elegant clothing, my mike caught my voice and narration perfectly.”

Nostalgic musical interludes were also interspersed throughout the reading and Sarmad shares, “I got to sing Harry Belafonte’s ‘Jamaica Farewell,’ danced to a Beatles song, and even rendered Baba Farid’s immortal words, ‘Kaga sab tan khaaiyo chun chun khaiyo maas.’ The music helped me express all the emotions that the writing evoked.”