Karachi: The Musical is Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

's first original Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 style Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

 musical

Musical

Musical is the adjective form of music. It may also refer to:*MusicAL: Albanian Television channel which broadcasts Albanian folk music*Musical artist*Musical composer...

. Set in the Lyari

Lyari

Lyari is one of the neighbourhoods of Lyari Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.There are several ethnic groups in Lyari including Muhajirs, Punjabis, Sindhis, Kashmiris, Seraikis, Pakhtuns, Balochis, Memons, Bohras Ismailis, etc. Over 99% of the population is Muslim...

 area of Karachi

Karachi

Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

, the story revolves around an aspiring boxer, Saif Salam, who travels from Mailsi

Mailsi

Mailsi is a city in Multan region,Pakistan. It is located at 29°48'1N 72°10'33E at an altitude of 126 m .It was the biggest tehsil of Multan District and two districts Lodhran and Vehari were carved out by taking land of Mailsi in 19th and 20th centuries. Vehari which is now district was...

 to train with the country's best boxing coach, Ghulam Bashir. It guest starred Munawar Saeed as Dara Jokhio, a former gangster.

Synopsis

Saif Salaam (Imam Syed) travels from Mailsi , Multan to train with arguably the best boxing coach in pakistan has to offer, Ghulam Bashir(Faraz Lodhi),who own the Ghulam Bashir Boxing club in Lyari. But there is one catch: bashir has not coached anyone in the last 2 decades since he had a falling out with his best buddy Daud Islam (Adnan Jaffar) who now runs the local mafia which controls drugs,prostitution,and betting houses in one of the most troubled parts of the city.
As Saif learns how to spar,he soon realizes that his decision to train for a professional boxing career has sparked tension between the age old rivals , put the livelihood of thousands in the area at risk,and exposed his family back home to grave danger.

Welcome to Karachi,home to the kebab roll,media glitz,the mob,ravers,landowners,rangers,corrupt cops and maulvis.

Production

• Director, Producer and Choreographer: Nida Butt
• Writers: Faraz Lodhi and Uns Mufti
• Co Producer: Waqas Bukhari
• Assistant Director: Alina Iftikhar
• Production Manager: Usman Mazhar
• Volunteer Head: Eleyna Haroun
• Lighting Director: Amna Soomro
• Set Designer: Khizer Farooq Aslam Bandey

Cast

• Faraz Lodhi as Ghulam Bashir
• Syed Adnan Jaffar as Daud Islam, the local gangster.
• Imam Syed as Said Salam
• Rubya Chaudhry as Yasmeen, a reporter
• Munawar Saeed as Dara Jokhio, a former gangster, who still holds sway over the area.
• Raza Shah as Raza Baloch, a former boxer who is on the run from the law.
• Monazza Fatima Naqvi as Tabassum (Tabu)
• Younas Khan as Mir
• Merium Azmi as Selina
• Aryaan Aslam as KK

• Kamal Hussain as Raheem Ibad
• Muhammad Shakeel Hussain as Jugnu
• Arshad Malik: Arsi
• Hamid Yousuf Khan as Sikandar
• Asif Shehzad Malik as Saniullah/News Reporter/Yasir Khan
• Ahsan Ali as Wajiullah/News Reporter/Imam
• Zakiullah Khan as Inspector Rehman/Asif
• Danish Hayat as Clement

Songs

• Lyrics by: Faraz Lodhi (12 songs)
• Composed by: Hamza Jafri

1. Lyari
2. Karachi
3. Ek Sae Dus (One to ten)
4. Aaye Re Main Aaye
5. Babu Bhai
6. Left Right Jab
7. Chaand
8. Shor Machao
9. Jin
10. Aur De
11. Daaka
12. New York

An official soundtrack for the Musical was released which consists of the first six songs.

Runs

The musical opened in Karachi on 22 October 2011 for 23 nights. An all Pakistan tour is planned for March 2011.
Choir members

• Anita Sattar
• Ameer Ali
• Ashfaq Hussain
• Sara Dawood
• Nabiyah Fahim
• Abdul Qayoom
• Sumair Ahmad Khan

Band

• Asad Zafar (Guitarist)
• Sheraz (Tabla)
• Manzoor Ahmed (Violinist)
• Joshua Fernandes (Drummer)
• Danish Manzoor(Keyboardist)