Of broken promises and failed nations: Tipu Sultan at the Lahore Fort.

This article examines the site-specific performance of the play *Tiger of Mysore*, centered on Tipu Sultan of Mysore, at Lahore Fort, situating audience responses within the broader context of postcolonial nationalism in Pakistan. The performance’s venue, the historically and symbolically charged Lahore Fort, intensified a collective sense of loss and nostalgia linked not only to Tipu Sultan’s fall but also to Pakistan’s ongoing struggles as a nation-state marked by ethnic fissures, political instability, and unfulfilled promises since its creation in 1947. The article argues that Pakistan’s national identity is shaped by a “state-nation” model that relies on oppositional definitions against India and selective historical narratives rooted in Muslim and Mughal legacies, yet this identity remains fragile due to the lack of an organic connection to its territory and internal divisions. The interplay between the play and the venue evoked a “negative pleasure” among audiences, reflecting both pride in a shared Islamic past and pain over Pakistan’s contemporary failures, thus highlighting the complexities of memory, nationalism, and cultural heritage in a postcolonial context.