Pakistani playwright Anwar Maqsood has a knack for discussing Pakistan’s politics – and its future – with comedy.

The 75-year-old satirist, who has written television scripts and nearly a hundred plays over his four-decade career, comes from an illustrious family of writers and artists: he has two sisters, the Urdu novelist Fatima Surayya Bajia and poet Zohra Nigah; his wife is the prominent novelist Imrana Maqsood; and his son Bilal is lead guitarist with the rock band Strings.

Maqsood’s latest production Anwar Maqsood Ka Dharna (Anwar Maqsood’s Strike) will be staged at Madinat Jumeirah from March 23-25. The play takes a lighthearted but critical look at the infamous strikes in Pakistan, and lampoons top political figures including prime minister Minister Nawaz Sharif and politician Imran Khan.

What issues will you be looking at in Anwar Maqsood Ka Dharna?

It’s a ‘live talk show’, like the kind you see on television. We have drawn it out as a form of a dharna (strike), which are so popular in Pakistan these days. So the 90-minute play will have politicians such as Altaf Hussain, Imran Khan to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. It’s more like a sketch. We will be staging our 189th show in Dubai.

Why did you decide to take the comic route to raise your issues?

Pakistan is a 68-year-old country and I feel like in all these years people have been taken for a ride. The health and education sectors are allocated the least amount of money in the government budget. Unless that changes, little will improve. The political situation is such that people are living a comedy everyday. What better way to take on a serious issue than by looking at it with humour? My writing is geared towards underscoring those opinions.

You witnessed the India-Pakistan partition and were uprooted in the process. Did those experiences shape your writing?

When we moved to the newly formed Pakistan, we came with aspirations. The country is very beautiful and so are the people, but our fate isn’t.

Growing up with writers and artists, was/is there sibling rivalry?

When my family moved from India, we only carried 5,000 books with us. Someone once asked me how come we have so much love? The reason is that when my parents died they didn’t leave us a house or bank balance. They only left us books. We still discuss our work, poetry and writing with each other.

Has your work ever been censored?

There hasn’t been a play so far that hasn’t been censored or stopped. Every time a new political party is in place they think I’ll write in their favour, but I’m not inclined towards any party. It’s funny – political parties come and go but I’m still here!

• Anwar Maqsood Ka Dharna is at Madinat Theatre at Madinat Jumeirah from March 23-26. Tickets cost from Dh250 and can be booked on www.madinattheatre.com

aahme@thenational.ae