Hyderabad, May 10: The lights brightened over a sparsely furnished set resembling stylised Mughal architecture sprinkled with verses written in calligraphic Nasta’liq script, designed by M S Sathyu and Begum Razia Baig. Zila Khan, the woman best known for her deep mesmerising voice, took the stage with a harmonium accompaniment.
The performance had begun.
As Zila took a brief sojourn, Mohammed Ali Baig, the writer and director of the show, stepped in to introduce the concept of Pankhdiyaan.
Kabir Bedi then joined Zila on the stage to read out a few selected poems by Ali Sardar Jaffri. Zila punctuated the poetry with her own musical interpretations.
Kabir started with some of the poet’s more revolutionary works, like Harf-e-Awwal. The reading concluded with Juhi Babbar joining Kabir to read a series of poems titled, Javed aur Marian, a dialogue between the poet and his beloved. Juhi’s slow smiles and seductive narration were a perfect accompaniment to Kabir’s deep, faintly gravely recitation.
The second sequence was dedicated to Sarojini Naidu’s works. Once again, Baig took the center stage and reintroduced this famous Hyderabadi poetess.
Juhi read out the poems. Vani Ganapathy, unarguably one of the country’s most beautiful and graceful danseuses, acted out the poems in a contemporary fusion dance format.
Vani’s performances were undoubtedly the highlight of the evening, especially her interpretation of Naidu’s Vision of Love, where a young lovestruck woman sees her lover everywhere – in the skies, the plants, even the gait of a passing elephant, and Bazaars of Hyderabad, which depicts a young girl delighted by all that she sees at the bazaar.
The third sequence had Anupam Kher reading out selected works of Makhdoom Mohiuddin to the melodies strains of the santoor played by Rahul Sharma. Kher’s simple recital was refreshingly devoid of any drama, when compared to Juhi’s overly-dramatic renditions of Naidu’s poetry. Sharma’s manipulations of the santoor were a sheer auditory delight, especially when accompanied by the tabla.
Overall, the production was a muchneeded reminder of India’s literary heritage, and a credit to Mohammed Ali Baig’s repertoire as a thespian. This piece was put together by the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation.
—Agencies