Tweet
Politics, poetry & satire draw theatre buffs
Team Viva
Theatre buffs have a veritable treat in store for them as the 21th Annual Iftekhar Memorial National Theatre Festival, the 12-day festival is being held at the Ravindra Bhawan in the ‘City of Lakes’ on Saturday.
The festival began with staging of the play Saiya Bhaye Kotwal directed by Ashok Bulani and written by Basant Sabnees. The play is a musical satire on the present political system.
At the inception of the festival, Tom Alter, was given the Kala Sadhna Samman, Govind Namdev the BV Karanath Kala Samman, Rita Varma Guldo Rang Samman and Amay Khurusia was conferred the Dr SM Khan Khel Award.
“'The Madhya Pradesh Government’s Directorate of Culture has been providing technical and logistic support since the very beginning,” said Hameed Ullah Khan of the Iftekhar Cricket Academy under whose aegis the fest is taking place.
“As far as performance goes, various theatre groups stage plays everyday and the ICA provides them a platform. We present 15 awards annually like the Best Male and Female Actor awards,” said Khan.
“We have seen a lot of response in the past and people tend to come even from outside this city. Mostly we have to place a houseful board outside the counter by 6 pm and the tickets start selling by 2 pm daily,” claimed Khan.
On the second day of the 12-day event, a letter of the Urdu poet of Mughal era Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, for which some scholar says that Ghalib would have the same place in Urdu literature if only on the basis of his letters.
Notable film and theatre personality Tom Alter played Ghalib in the play, Ghalib Ke Khutoot (Letters of Ghalib) written and directed by Sayeed Alam. The onstage presentation with the crisp and delightful voice of Alter held the audience spellbound.
Ghalib made his letters ‘talk’ by using words and sentences as if he were conversing with the reader, said Alam. Quoting Ghalib, he said, “Sau kos se ba-zaban-e-qalam baatein kiya karo aur hijr mein visaal ke maze liya karo (from hundred of miles talk with the tongue of the pen and enjoy the joy of meeting even when you are separated).”
His letters were very informal, sometimes he would just write the name of the person and start the letter. Ghalib’s sense of humour was evident in the letters, made even more interesting by Alter and his craft. He read, “Main koshish karta hoon keh koi aisi baat likhoon jo parhay khoosh ho jaaye (I want to write the lines that whoever reads those should enjoy it).” And enjoy they did!
Theatre buffs have a veritable treat in store for them as the 21th Annual Iftekhar Memorial National Theatre Festival, the 12-day festival is being held at the Ravindra Bhawan in the ‘City of Lakes’ on Saturday.
The festival began with staging of the play Saiya Bhaye Kotwal directed by Ashok Bulani and written by Basant Sabnees. The play is a musical satire on the present political system.
At the inception of the festival, Tom Alter, was given the Kala Sadhna Samman, Govind Namdev the BV Karanath Kala Samman, Rita Varma Guldo Rang Samman and Amay Khurusia was conferred the Dr SM Khan Khel Award.
“'The Madhya Pradesh Government’s Directorate of Culture has been providing technical and logistic support since the very beginning,” said Hameed Ullah Khan of the Iftekhar Cricket Academy under whose aegis the fest is taking place.
“As far as performance goes, various theatre groups stage plays everyday and the ICA provides them a platform. We present 15 awards annually like the Best Male and Female Actor awards,” said Khan.
“We have seen a lot of response in the past and people tend to come even from outside this city. Mostly we have to place a houseful board outside the counter by 6 pm and the tickets start selling by 2 pm daily,” claimed Khan.
On the second day of the 12-day event, a letter of the Urdu poet of Mughal era Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, for which some scholar says that Ghalib would have the same place in Urdu literature if only on the basis of his letters.
Notable film and theatre personality Tom Alter played Ghalib in the play, Ghalib Ke Khutoot (Letters of Ghalib) written and directed by Sayeed Alam. The onstage presentation with the crisp and delightful voice of Alter held the audience spellbound.
Ghalib made his letters ‘talk’ by using words and sentences as if he were conversing with the reader, said Alam. Quoting Ghalib, he said, “Sau kos se ba-zaban-e-qalam baatein kiya karo aur hijr mein visaal ke maze liya karo (from hundred of miles talk with the tongue of the pen and enjoy the joy of meeting even when you are separated).”
His letters were very informal, sometimes he would just write the name of the person and start the letter. Ghalib’s sense of humour was evident in the letters, made even more interesting by Alter and his craft. He read, “Main koshish karta hoon keh koi aisi baat likhoon jo parhay khoosh ho jaaye (I want to write the lines that whoever reads those should enjoy it).” And enjoy they did!
