'My roots are Indian, but my work canvas is universal'

Martyr Turrebaz Khan was one of the foremost freedom fighters of the country during 1857, yet is unknown and unsung,” says playwright-director-actor Mohammad Ali Baig.

He continues, “Poet-King Quli Qutub Shah was the first Saheb-e-Diwan of Urdu poetry in the subcontinent, in addition to being a visionary administrator ahead of his times in the 16th century, yet just a few academicians are aware of this. Queen Hayat Bakshi Begum of Golconda thwarted Mughal invasion of the Deccan in the 17th century without a single war, purely on her mental strength and political strategy, and is still the only royal in the world who was a princess, a queen and a queen mother in succession, with her father, husband and son successive rulers of Hyderabad. But how many people are aware of this part of our country’s history?”

It is these “elements of our own history and takes of bravery” that inspire him to bring their life stories alive on stage, says Baig, whose upcoming historical production 1857: Turrebaz Khan, set against the backdrop of the Sepoy Mutiny, is a gripping drama of an unsung hero from the Deccan. The drama depicts the freedom fighter’s last few hours with his captor who is, in fact, a slave to the very system Khan is fighting against.
“Turrebaz Khan was a person with exemplary courage and valour. Imagine a soldier taking on the regime of His Highness Nizam IV and the mighty British Empire with a group of 500. To create a theatre piece out of his story, and to play the fiery person tied for the entire hour of the performance onstage, is a challenge for an actor who is mostly using his eyes and voice to tell the tale,” says Baig, who essays Khan’s role in the
play.

Produced by Begum Razia Baig, and written, designed and directed by Mohammad Ali Baig, the play also features Vijay Prasad and Noor Baig.

Talking about the research that went into scripting the 65-minute production, Baig who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2014, says that his team, especially his wife Noor, had to put in a lot of hard work to source authentic facts and details. He, however, adds that since very little material is available on Khan, except few narrations by historians, he had to fictionalise “within the confines of authenticity that would make for compelling theatre”.

“For me, the structure of the play is very important as I feel rest of the elements onstage depend on this. I have based the entire play on the imaginary last hour he (Khan) had with his captor who was from the same region and ideology, but a different socio-economic milieu, thereby creating a contrast of the privileged and the deprived, the powerful and the oppressed,” he tells Metrolife.

Baig, who has also worked on plays like Quli: Dilon ka Shahzaada, Spaces and Taramati - The Legend of an Artiste, continues, “It could be a case in point today, anywhere in the world, of two people — one who caters to the establishment for his own agenda, and the other whose agenda is a larger cause, benefiting the rest of his country.”

The play, which had its world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016, followed by its London premiere, invoked a sense of belonging universally despite being stories and characters from Hyderabad, says Baig, adding that it got an “overwhelming” response at all the venues.

He, however, shares that performing such large-scale productions overseas is a challenge “because they are conceived, designed and blocked for a 60-feet proscenium opening and multilevel performing areas”.

“But my first production 'Taramati’, which had a cast of 40, including horses and camels, onstage and 150 lights atop a 250 year old hillock monument could not be staged anywhere else. So I had to make my later productions adaptable and ‘portable’ to perform them even at intimate spaces like National Centre for the Performing Arts, Ranga Shankara, India Habitat Centre. But it gives you equal thrill when your performing space is the four centuries old Golconda Fort in Hyderabad, the modern 5,000-seater Qaddafi Stadium in Lahore, the medieval Van Gogh Castle in Europe or the state of the art Kagithane Theatre in Istanbul, where your sets are a minimum of 50 feet high architectural wonders, forming a natural part of storytelling,” he says.

Credited for single-handedly reviving theatre in Hyderabad over the past decade, Baig says that he is a product of his upbringing. He adds that being born into a family of theatre persons, growing up in green rooms and watching his father, late Qadir Ali Baig in various makeovers, among other things became an inherent part of his
temperament and upbringing.

“And with my ad films in several countries from the West to the Far East, my exposure has been of what is now popularly called a ‘global citizen’. While my roots are Indian, particularly Hyderabadi, my work canvas is universal. What I learnt from Baba is what I practise: that ‘theatre should transcend barriers; linguistic, cultural and geographical’. While the premise of these plays is heritage, the essence is contemporary; period yet timeless. Indian in nature, universal in appeal,” says Baig, who is also director of ad film and social documentaries.

An Old World Culture presentation, Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation’s “1857: Turrebaz Khan” is scheduled for September 25 at 4.30 pm and 7.30 pm at Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road.