The Echo of the Mute
Feature Article | Sindhi Theatre
“ In this memoir, the judge Sikandar Abbasi recounts how Mujeeb Burdi’s Goongi overturned the judges’ expectations at a 2018 Larkana drama festival and won every award, and how the play has echoed on stage since. ”
I believe it was 2018. The Arts Council of Pakistan, Larkana, organised a festival featuring sixteen stage plays, with awards in each category. To ensure a fair selection, three judges were appointed for the whole festival, with the responsibility of watching every play and deciding the awards. The panel consisted of the renowned critic and poet Adil Abbasi, the senior journalist Muhammad Hanif Sohaag, and myself, Sikandar Abbasi.
As the plays were performed day by day, the three of us would award marks for everything, from the script to the acting and direction. Each evening, as soon as a play ended, we would sit in the office provided to us and record our marks with complete honesty.
The final play of the festival was Goongi (The Mute), written by Mujeeb Burdi and directed by Habib Burdi. The cast included Musarrat Naz, Abbas Gul and Arshad Sheikh. After watching it, the three of us had to give our final marks, prepare the results and hand them to the Arts Council administration for the awards ceremony scheduled for the following day.
The Warning
Having watched fifteen plays, we had almost completed the results. We thought it unlikely that the final play of the festival, Goongi, would have any impact on the results we had prepared.
To be even more certain, the three of us held a meeting during the day. We contacted some of Larkana’s respected writers and directors whose scripts had been read for the festival. They told us:
“There is nothing in Goongi. What kind of script is it? What kind of story? It isn’t even fit to be staged. It’s useless. We rejected it, but the administration is making them perform it. The play is good for nothing.”
After hearing this, we relaxed. We thought we would simply sit through Goongi, and that it would have no effect on the results, which would stay exactly as we had prepared them.
The Final Night
That night, Goongi began. As soon as the curtain rose and the lights came on, the first thing that startled us was the set. From that moment, throughout the entire play, we were either sitting in stunned silence or being startled by one revelation after another. A spell gradually took hold of us, and we watched the whole play in that state.
When the play ended, we forgot that we had to rise from our chairs and go to the office to record our marks. The three judges simply stared at one another in astonishment, as if asking, “What have we just witnessed?” Still under its spell, we went into the office and began marking the play.
A single play, Goongi, turned the entire result upside down. With complete sincerity, all three of us gave it generous marks. We changed the results entirely, and the outcome was that Goongi swept all the awards.
How the result turned
Behind Goongi
The Echo
The play travelled on. In March 2021 the Culture Department of the Government of Sindh presented it in Karachi, alongside Chun Chunao. And in August 2026, at the Arts Council of Pakistan’s Sindhi theatre festival in Karachi, Arshad Sheikh directed the same play himself and once again worked his magic. The echo of Goongi once again spread through the air.
It is true that anything which breaks away from convention brings something new. It opens new paths of thought, and it creates its own place.
Goongi on stage
The echo of Goongi, resonating once again at the Arts Council of Pakistan in Karachi, has proved that the decision we made about Goongi all those years ago still stands firm today.
Feature Article | Sindhi Theatre
Sindhi drama, the Larkana festival and a judge’s memoir
Editorial Note
References and further study
Abbasi, Sikandar. 2026. گونگيءَ جي گونج [The Echo of Goongi]. Personal memoir.
Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi. 2026. “Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi Presents the Wes-Dhaari Sindhi Theatre Festival”. Facebook, August 2026.
ARY News. 2026. “Goongi”. Facebook video. Accessed August 25, 2026.
Biz Today. 2026. “Arts Council Kicks Off Sindhi Theatre Festival 2026, Wes-Dhaari”. August 20, 2026.
Burdi, Mujeeb. 2018. Goongi. Stage play. Directed by Habib Burdi. Arts Council of Pakistan, Larkana, Sindh.
Daily Kawish. 2018. لاڙڪاڻي ڊراما فيسٽيول ۾ آخري ڊرامو ‘گونگي’ پيش [The Final Play ‘Goongi’ Presented at the Larkana Drama Festival]. October 18, 2018, 7.
Hiccup HQ Karachi. 2026. “Wes-Dhaari Sindhi Theatre Festival 2026.” August 2026.
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Abbasi has written extensively for television and theatre, including numerous Sindhi one-act plays, mini-series and serials, as well as Urdu television dramas. His published books include Pyar Jo Pehro Nazam (The First Poem of Love), Kojhi Chand Jo Gham (The Sorrow of the Ugly Moon), Mohabbat Hi Khuda Aahe (Love Is God) and Tareekh Ji Teh Khanan Man (From the Cellars of History). His later collection Kachi Nind Ja Khuwab (Dreams of Fitful Sleep) was praised for stories rooted in society and their emotional appeal.
His literary work has earned several recognitions, including the KTN Best Writer Award, the Amar Jaleel Award and the Tanvir Abbasi Award. He has also worked as a presenter with Radio Pakistan Larkana since 2009.
A writer closely associated with Larkana’s literary and cultural life, Abbasi has worked across several forms while maintaining a strong interest in society, human relationships and the concerns of ordinary people. His long engagement with Sindhi literature and theatre has made him a recognisable voice in contemporary Sindhi letters.