Instep: How did you get involved in theatre?
Shah Sharabeel: The story is a bit personal. I was in first year and had never seen a play in my life. I was with this young girl who was studying at Kinnaird College and she used to take part in KC's annual plays. I got to see a few plays with her but didn't take it very seriously. After 2, 3 years, our relationship came to an end like any other relationship. I loved her I guess, and whenever some incident takes place in my life, I try to make a positive resolution out of it. When she walked away, I thought to myself, maybe I wasn't very intellectually stimulating for her. I decided that I will do theatre--- such a theatre that the whole country will know my name.

Instep: What was your first play?
SS: I did Phantom of the Opera in 1990 in Lahore. At that time, plays used to take place only at Kinnaird, Aitchison and Government College. There was no concept of private production. I did it all by myself, putting up black and white posters on electricity poles. The cost of production of my first play was 25,000 rupees. And now, that is the amount we pay to each student.

Instep: So you actually pay amateur artists?
SS: Well, there was no concept of paying amateurs. I'm the one who started it. But still, you will find that I am somewhat controversial because the 20 per cent of people who come to work with dedication become my best friends, and the 70 per cent who're into theatre to party and get popular with chicks end up disliking me when I put my foot down with them.

Instep: Tell us something about your life before you got into theatre.
SS: I have five sisters and I'm the only brother. My parents got divorced when I was five. My father is a very well educated person. He has done two PhD's and three masters. But he has never worked in his life. He would sit reading books in his rocking chair all day long. It was my mother who worked really hard to take care of us.

I was in hostels most of the time and after I did my matriculation and came home, I started throwing my weight around, telling my mother not to do this or that. One day she said to me, "When you grow up and have financial responsibilities of your own, then you will have the right to talk". When she said that, I picked up my clothes and left the house. I was only 16. I said to myself, I will earn money on my own. Loads of money.

Instep: And what was the first job you took?
SS: I was mopping bathrooms in Inter Continental Hotel. I have waited tables. I have been a salesman at a store. I started my own men's wear label in the 90s and opened up a snack bar called Malibu at Pace, Lahore. I will never let my urchin streak die out in me because it has made me what I am. I'm a workaholic who worked 18 hours a day just out of reaction.

Instep: What has this whole theatre experience been like to you?
SS: Theatre is now my life. Theatre has taught me how to be a good manager. Theatre has taught me business and administration. I believe I'm an average person when it comes to talent but one reason I'm successful is because I am crazy about discipline.

I want to share something else as well. In theatre, audiences are the opinion makers of society. And our audience constitutes of the privileged class. This class, with due respect, is very difficult. It's not easy getting a round of applause from them.

Instep: Why do you find the privileged class so difficult?
SS: I'm from a lower middle class. A lot of things happened in my life that made me interact with this privileged class and I have this strong belief that most of them are opportunists and selfish. At least 90 per cent of them. I've seen well educated people deriving political mileage out of things. I believe Pakistan has no system or structure. Let me tell you something. People talk about this country needing education. I disagree. It's not only education that we need. Because if you pick up a malicious man, send him to Harvard or Yale, his maliciousness will sharpen even more. On the other hand, if you send a decent, well-intentioned man to a mediocre university, he will turn out to be an asset to the country. All this country needs is a sense of justice, and that has nothing to do with education.

Instep: Speaking of justice, during one of your plays, Bombay Dreams, your statements regarding the chief justice got you a lot of flack from the media. Why did you make those comments, knowing they were very controversial and went against the major sentiment in the country?

SS: Firstly, the major sentiment has been created by the media. Secondly, I was never against the fact that the full court should reinstate the chief justice. He should have been reinstated because you just cannot throw a chief justice out. Our judges are the assets of our country. I agree with this fact totally. But I also believe the decision was incomplete. They should have reinstated the chief justice, and then also look into the allegations against him. That was my point.

Instep: Your personal experience with regard to your project being cancelled got a lot of attention as well.
SS: Yes. I had actually thought that since I had done theatre in Islamabad and proved myself to be creative and talented, I could bring that experience to give something back to the public. It started with these advertisements in the newspapers inviting developers with money and experience to create an activity park for the general public, with no permanent high rise structures. Nine parties came forward and there were six months of presentations. I won an open bidding on the basis of best presentation, designs and concepts. But then I was confronted with the land mafia. The place being developed was next to Jinnah Super, and the land mafia said that we will make shops here. I refused, because the project was for public entertainment only.

I had grand plans for the public. I was going to set up bungee jumping, miniature golf, an amphitheatre, a skating rink, bowling, an adventure track with jogging, hiking and juice bars, still games etc. It would have been so fulfilling for the public that even if an enemy was making it, he should have been allowed to do so. I had even designed this interesting Chai Ghar dedicated to Ghalib. I had spoken to Nirala about having hot Gulab Jaman , Jalebi and Namak Paray etc in one corner, and I had spoken to Lever brothers about having a modern Chai Bar with lemon chai, masala chai, driver chai, rickshaw chai, literati chai etc. There were going to be walls dedicated to Parveen Shakir, Ghalib, Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare, lined with their books and portraits. Aspiring writers could sit and write and then read out their work on a microphone. And to enter this entire activity park, you only needed a five rupee ticket.

When I refused the land mafia, even though they offered me so much money, they threatened that they will not let me go ahead with this. And they got the contract cancelled.

I met the prime minister during one of my plays and told him that I had been given this contract on the basis of merit and it had been cancelled. I asked him if he could at least give CDA orders to give the contract to the rightful, deserving party, whosoever it may be. CDA then re-advertised it all over again and it took another 6 months. I won the contract again. But due to some bureaucrats, it was cancelled a second time.

After that, I did another play and this time the president came. I went up to him and told him what had happened. Another bidding took place and it took one more year. I won a third time. Then I started working on the project immediately and vigorously for fear of another cancellation.

But then the Supreme Court intervened. When my case went to the Supreme Court, I was in fact happy. I had won the project on merit and I was fearful that another government in the future could cancel it again. So it would be better for me to have a Supreme Court endorsement once and for all.

Instep: The Supreme Court felt that a public park was being used for personal interests.
SS: The Supreme Court's decision was twofold: that there should be no commercial project in a public park in future. Second, that CDA had favoured me and it was a non-transparent lease. Let's say both of these are absolutely correct. Then how come Monal restaurant opened in Margallah Hills after this decision? Wasn't that a commercial project? What about Cinepax, Mcdonalds and Papasallis in Jinnah Park-- a public park in Rawalpindi?

Second, if it was a non transparent lease, why wasn't I prosecuted? Why wasn't I put behind bars? Why did they catch the thief and not punish him? No one can answer these questions.
I even met the president after this happened, and was offered any land I could put my finger on as compensation to me, because he agreed that I had been wronged. But I refused to accept that on the basis of principles. And I will still continue to fight, even if I might only have a one percent chance.
Instep: Getting back to theatre, what do you say to people who regard your work as purely commercial and assert that it has nothing to do with pure art?

SS: See, this privileged class of ours normally sends its children to study in foreign universities. Some of them have seen London theatre or done theatre in America. They come to Pakistan and do theatre here. Complete Flops. Here I am, a plain graduate, who gets millions of sponsorships and jam-packed halls. In Lahore, my plays have had lathi charges outside the hall, tickets are being sold in black. They can't digest this. This privileged class thinks they have a monopoly over intellectualism. But intellectual plays are very easy to deliver. It is very dry. You don't need complicated sets, lights, choreography or elaborate costumes. And I don't want to be involved in that because I want to give laughter and pure enjoyment to my audience. I want to give my sponsors a play that is the talk of the town. I believe in creating packages. The plays that I have brought here, like Moulin Rouge, Phantom of the Opera and Bombay Dreams are plays that are still being reproduced in cities like London and New York. So I don't see what is wrong in the kind of theatre I am doing.

Instep: What's in your future now?
SS: Well, I'm 35 years old, and at 40 I will retire from business. Then, like I said before, whenever something traumatic happens to me, I try to bring something positive out of it. So after my experience, I will get a degree in law. That is my latest resolution. And I am also interested in doing a Masters in History in the future.