The different shades of love and its eternity were showcased in play ‘Ishq Aaha’. The play was staged at Antarang Hall, Bharat Bhavan on Friday marking the second day of 27th Iftekhar Theatre Festival.

Ishq Aaha is a journey of love and music inspired from the desi old love stories from Punjab. Directed by Gaggan Dev Riar and Sukant Goel, the play was performed brilliantly by the artists of Jhoom Theatre Troupe.

The play is inspired by four famous love stories Heer Ranjha (Waris Shah and Damodar), Sassi Punnu (Hashim Shah), Soni Mahiwal (Fazal Shah and Hafiz Barkhurdar), Mirza Sahiban (Peelu and Hafiz Barkhurdar). The play is written by Raghav Dutt, Dhruv lohumi, Sukant Goel Gagan Dev Riar and Purva Naresh.

The play began with the story of Sassi Punnu. Sassi was a princess and due to a prophecy that she will fall in love with a boy from different cast and will bring misfortune to royal family, she was given to a poor family to be raised. As the prophecy said, she fell in love with Punnu and as the history witnessed both of them were parted by destiny.

Then stories of Heer Ranjha, Sohni Mahiwal and Mirza Sahiban were staged brilliantly. Not even for a minute the audiences were bored as the play was beautifully designed and presented.

All the love stories unfold the musical journey of lovers and their tragic end. These eternal lovers present their love stories in a mix of Folk, Qissa, Movement, Qawwali, Jazz and Nautanki.

This foot tapping musical retold these timeless tales in new ways. It was a spell binding experience for the theatre buffs of the city to witness the age old stories in most unique manner.

The feet tapping music and zestful light design was mesmerizing.