The Qaadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival, which has risen to the top of the country’s key cultural events, is known for its historical setting, acclaimed performers, and ground-breaking subjects. The ongoing festival that started on November 16 with an inaugural live concert continues till November 20. The Qaadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival’s impressive line-up for this year includes live performances by Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and pieces by literary heavyweights like Manto, Sagar Sarhadi, and Satish Alekar. The yearly spectacle will feature performances by Ramesh Talwar and Juuhi Babbar from Bollywood, Rakesh Bedi and Masood Akhtar from IPTA, Bhageerathi and Baharul Islam from Assam, Aloke Chakravarty from Kolkata, and more.
The legendary sarod player Ustad Amjad Ali Khan performs live in the Taramati Baradari auditorium for the debut of this showcase event for Hyderabad. On its second day, the music is followed by a presentation of the timeless movie Garm Hava, directed by MS Sathyu and starring Balraj Sahni and Farooque Shaikh, at the renovated Prince Moazzam Jahi Market Courtyard. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan tells us, “It’s a great honour and pleasure for me to perform in memory of the legendary Qaadir Ali Baig saheb, who left behind such a rich legacy. He was one of the founding fathers of theatre. He was a true icon who spoke through this craft. I am really looking forward to offering my love and respect through my music as a humble salutation to Baig saheb’s artistic and creative journey.”
This year’s programme centres on the subject of Freedom@75, India’s 75th independence. Assam’s
Seagull Repertory performs Kamladevi — a play based on the biography of freedom fighter Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, while Aloke Chakravarty of Kolkata performs Toba Tek Singh — a play based on a short tale by Manto. The festival also includes performances by Juuhi Babbar of Ekjute’s With Love, Aap ki Saiyaara and Ramesh Talwar and Rakkesh Bedi of IPTA’s Bhookhe Bhajan Na Hoye Gopala. While the former enactment is a woman’s take on men, marketing and bureaucracy, the latter piece makes observations on themes such as hunger, unemployment, poverty, inequality, and the plight of farmers. In addition, the discovery of a plant that will satiate one’s hunger for a week is a momentous plot point in the story. The drama was inspired by a real news report from 1965.
Over the past three decades, Indian theatre directors and actors have been captivated by Saadat Hasan Manto’s short works, particularly those that explore the sombre shadow surrounding the Partition of 1947. Toba Tek Singh, directed by Aloke Chakravorty of the Renaissance Theatre Group in Kolkata, reminds us of the inhumanity and tragedy during the partition. “Post the pandemic, taking such overwhelming efforts in a regular fashion is undoubtedly courageous and praise-worthy. We are very grateful to have got the opportunity to be a part of this grand event,” says the participating director.
The foundation is run by Mohammad Ali Baig, the producer-director and son of the late Qaadir Ali
Baig recognised the need to resurrect Hyderabad’s theatre scene in 2005. He developed a series of plays to that end in collaboration with artists including dancer Vani Ganapathy, actresses like Rohini Hattangadi, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, and Urmila Matondkar, lyricist Javed Akhtar, and director MS Sathyu. In 2005, plays with Rohini Hattangadi and Jayadev Hattangadi as the directors were staged. The organisation presented a play about Abdullah Qutb Shah’s courtesan Taramati the following year. Ahead of the big event, we conversed with Mohammad Ali Baig who talked to us about the theatre’s charisma as a medium of the performing arts. “We conduct the festival every year, come what may, because we share a deep sense of commitment towards the city of Hyderabad. The foundation was set up to revive theatre in the city. My father had a vibrant presence as a theatre personality during the ’70s and the ’80s with several socially meaningful plays full of historical spectacles. After he passed away, there was a lull and very minimal theatre activity in town,” he recollects.
Hyderabad had never heard of an art and culture event until festivals of jazz, literature, and music emerged later. The Qaadir Ali Baig was a 10-day celebration when it first began. It became a five-day event after the COVID-19 outbreak. This fosters a whole revival and shapes an attitude that welcomes many younger and modern artistes to the theatre. Even live theatre can now be as exciting as OTT shows and movies. The foundation wants to break theatre out of the outdated belief that the performance art form is reserved for academicians. Younger audiences, who are brimming with new ideas, thoughts, and presentations, have been introduced to the art. It has a connection to individuals
today. Indeed, a resurgence and a revival were brought forth by the festival.
Mohammad also mentioned that his 2014 Padmashri was intended to single-handedly resurrect Hyderabad’s theatrical tradition. “I was born into the art of theatre. I decided to make it more fashionable and acceptable as a modern performance. In a subcontinent in which cricket and Bollywood overshadow everything else, it is difficult for any performing artiste to make their mark. The biggest celebrities in the West could be poets, auteurs, rock stars, and scientists – but in India, they are either film actors or cricketers and everything else gets completely white-washed. To hold your ground in the bombardment of adulation for cricketers and film stars, you need to have that distinct appeal while you are carrying on with your performing art. It has been an interesting journey for me and I would say that I was lucky to have been born to a legendary father where I didn’t need to go to a school to learn the craft. I did it hands-on,” he shares.
Till November 20, at multiple venues.
E-mail: chokita@newindianexpress.com
Twitter: @PaulChokita