-Shehr-e-Afsos" is an attempt to lift the carpet and reveal, relive the traumas of our history, open the cupboard and look, feel the skeletons hidden inside. It may be a painful experience but it is also a healing process. It is an attempt to take back our audience to a journey of self-discovery, to unite the knots which are impeding our march forward and the root-causes of our present-day malaise.
And we are told that the Partition madness was a temporary phenomenon "Shehr-e-Afsos" shatters that illusion. Intizar Hussain's story is told in a dastaan -like style and has a universal appeal. But the imprint of 1971 is not too difficult to notice. The anguish of a RO.W, being imprisoned in a camp situated in the city of his birth says it all.
"Shehr-e-Afosos" brings out the shame, the collective guilt, of the events of 1971. he unpardonable apathy, the justification of mass murders & rape, the rationalization of national humiliation are all manifested in the agony of the three narrators is the reality of which so far we have refused to accept. The indictment may be disturbing and shocking but so was the tragedy itself.