One of Mohammad Ali Baig’s most popular plays, Quli: Dilon ka Shahzaada, which portrays the historical origin story of Hyderabad through a royal love story, will be staged in Chennai for the first time. “It’s inspired by the late Qadir Ali Baig’s classic Quli Qutub Shah which used to be staged at the ramparts of the Golconda Fort in Hyderabad much before light and sound shows became famous in our country,” says Mohammad Ali Baig, who founded the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation (QABTF, Hyderabad) in 2005. But like all ancient love stories, even this adaptation required a more modern approach. Hence, when he was asked by the Tourism Ministry to redo Qadir’s play in 2013, Mohammad brought on board a young short story writer, Noor, to give it a modern-day perspective of a young audience revisiting their country’s history.
Dream dialogues
Noor went on to become his wife, and together they have been portraying the love story between Quli Qutub Shah, the founder of Hyderabad, and his danseuse Bhagmati across the country and the world, in film festivals such as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last year. Describing the plot of the play, Mohammad says, “The play has an unconventional structure — a dialogue between Prince Quli who revisits his kingdom centuries later to tell his tale to the audience. That’s when Bhagmati appears in his imagination, and he starts talking about their first meeting and falling in love to overcoming barriers of family objections. Other highlights of his story are the devastating flood that brought them together, their wedding, building of the city of Hyderabad, construction of Charminar, births of their daughter and grandson and the fatal epidemic that claimed thousands of lives in the kingdom, including Bhagmati’s (then Queen Begum Hyder Mahal).”
Period poise
With all historical facts having been retained, Mohammad has ensured that the look and feel of the play stayed true to the timeline it is set in. While the set has been designed by MS Sathyu, a veteran at QABTF, the costumes have been recreated by designers Lakshmi Devi Raj and Vinita Pittie, who used fabrics, textures and colours that were seen during the Qutub Shahi period. “I’ve incorporated shadow dance — a kind of a dance of destruction. Even though the dialogues are philosophical and meaningful in this play, their basic premise is love, unity and humanity,” says Mohammad, the youngest Padmashree in the country. As for the music, the director has turned to the captivating power of qawwali to compose Quli Qutub Shah’s verses. “The Ayyazi brothers from the illustrious Hyderabadi family of Qawwals will sing qawwali live on stage and travel with us. I’ve also used a certain combination of aalaap and khayaal in this play,” says Mohammad, who adds that the play will be staged in the US later this year.
At InterContinental Chennai Mahabalipuram Resort. Tomorrow, 8 pm. Details: 71720101