By IANS,
New Delhi : The historical characters of Tantiya Tope, Nana Saheb and Nawab Wajid Ali Shah were brought to life at the 16th century Purana Qila here as theatre personality Nadira Zaheer Babbar recreated the Sepoy Mutiny through a play.
“1857: Ek Safarnama” by Nadira, the wife of Bollywood actor and MP Raj Babbar, was part of the yearlong events lined up to celebrate 50 years of the National School of Drama (NSD), the capital’s premier theatre school.
Raj, daughter Juhi, who is an actress and filmmaker, and son Arya, also an actor, were busy lending emotional and logistic support to mother Nadira on the sprawling green lawns of Purana Quila Friday evening.
Incidentally, the fort is a venue where Nadira and Babbar appeared on stage for some of their early plays like “Tughlaq” in 1974 as NSD students under their tutor, the legendary Ebrahim Alkazi.
And the imposing stone façade of the Purana Quila was hosting a play after 31 years.
“1857: Ek Safarnama” is about the revolt told from the perspective of the common people – the farmers, the potters and the working class of India. It has been narrated in a new way,” Nadira told IANS.
Steeped in socialist values since childhood, Nadira said that “when she delved into history, she found that all the values that are rooted in our own culture were present in the uprising”.
She added: “I chose ‘1857’ as the theme because it is the 150th year of the Sepoy Mutiny and we all have to remember our heritage.”
The play opens with the annexation of Awadh – present day Lucknow – by the East India Company. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, the ruler, is forced to flee to Calcutta (now Kolkata) in Bengal. The plot cuts through the nawab’s plight and zeroes in on Ramsaran, a labourer who deserts the company and joins ranks with a renegade, Shamsuddin.
Both of them join Nana Saheb, Tantiya Tope and Azimullah Khan, three nationalists, to mount an attack against the British. But the plan is aborted when the British army outsmarts Nana and his men.
The rebel leader then sends his forces to fight the British in Delhi under the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. The battle is bravely fought, but the Indians are betrayed.
“It is a story that reflects true India, it is totally secular in nature,” Nadira said.
“Safarnama” draws from traditional Indian styles and makes liberal use of music and grand compositions to convey the expansive yet belligerent mood of the times.
“I shared a lot of new material that I had unearthed for my book ‘War of Civilisation: India 1857’ with Nadira for the play,” author and resource person Amaresh Misra said.
“For the first time in history, we have given a different narrative to the infamous Bibigarh massacre. We have shown that the British killed their own women and children to defame Nana Saheb…because they wanted sanction for the mass killings of Indians.”
Oscar winner Bhanu Athiaya of Richard Attenborough’s “Gandhi” fame designed the costumes and Kajal Ghosh, a student of Pandit Vishwanath Bose, set the score.
Tourism Minister Ambika Soni was the chief guest of the evening.
Raj Babbar told reporters before the play began that Hindi theatre was in a bad state.
“Hindi theatre is struggling. Good actors have no time for Hindi stage, including myself. If I sermonise, I would look a cheat. I went straight into films after graduating from NSD.
“Theatre needs a lot of help, it has no funds. It is a pure art and purity needs a lot of effort to sustain because everybody wants to see remixes and adulteration these days,” the actor-turned-politician said.