Jameel is a young teenage boy who goes to a madrasa and is surrounded by other boys of his age. Most have hit puberty and are slowly exploring the hormonal and bodily changes that come with it. His world changes when a boy, Nazru arrives as domestic help. His friends are enchanted and there is a change in the dynamics of their equations. Jameel is jealous at first but equally intrigued by the new entrant.

This is a story set in the 1940s in an unnamed small town, in the era of Nawabs. First penned in Urdu as a short story by Muhammad Hassan Askari, Phislan, is one that remained lesser-known and un-translated. If it has a familiar ring and if Ismat Chughtai's Lihaaf comes to mind, you aren't far off the mark. Director Jitender Singh of Afsana Theatre had similar recollections when he heard it at Tamasha Theatre in an Urdu reading back in 2017.