The andaaz-e-bayaan of Ghalib in modern India

Zikr-e-Ghalib a musical play, brings alive the twilight years of the stalwart of Urdu poetry — Mirza Ghalib, as he reads his letters. The reading is interwoven with kathak to give a physical expression to the words of the great poet. Zafer Mohiuddin, the director, talks about the play that was staged once again in the city yesterday.

By Anna Mary

How has the response been  from the audience?

I premiered this show back in 2016, it has been five years since then. The play has been staged in many venues in Bangalore like Ravindra Kalakshetra, Alliance Francais, Ranga Shankara and many other cities. And I have also staged a show in Dubai at the Indian Consulate for the Independence Day celebrations. Wherever I have staged the show, I have got a very good response. But there are limited stages where we can perform where people understand Urdu. I have been planning to stage it in Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bhopal. These cities have people who understand Urdu. But it has not happened yet. Wherever I find a stage where I can find like-minded people I’m eager to perform. So far I have gotten a very good response because I have a concept where kathak interprets the shayaris of Ghalib while I read the letters. The singer sings these couplets while the dancer performs to the couplets.

Does the Bangalore audience comprehend the chaste Urdu Ghalib used in his letters?

Bengaluru has the culture of Urdu in a few pockets where people still read Urdu and many write poetry and short stories. Also, in the past decade a lot of Urdu speaking-people have settled here because their children are working here in the IT industry. People who have relocated from UP and Madhya Pradesh love to listen to Urdu. Some people may not understand Ghalib’s Urdu completely, but some understand about 80 percent of it and enjoy that. I get messages from people conveying their appreciation for the rhythm of the language. The audience come to listen for the love of Urdu and Ghalib.

There is an audience in Bangalore who doesn’t know Urdu but want to learn the language. They want to know about Ghalib. I’m not able to do many shows in Bangalore. One or two in a year is what I can manage. I’m seeing this trend where many youngsters are learning Urdu through Rekhta and the National Council for the Promotion of Urdu.

Why did you choose to base your play on Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib’s letter?

Since my adolescence, I have been attracted to Ghalib’s poetry but I didn’t understand what he meant at that age. I belong to a family where my father and my uncle are Urdu poets. So I used to hear from them and listen to musharas. First, I use to only hear Ghalib then I started reading his works too.

In the 90’s Gulzar made a series called Mirza Ghalib. The way Gulzar presented him and Naseeruddin Shah played the role influenced me. His personality made the serial even more interesting. Mirza Ghalib revived public interest in Ghalib.

Since then, I started reading more about Ghalib and then I found a book on Ghalib’s letters. These letters transponded me the 19th century and the reign of the last emperor Bahadur Shah. Ghalib’s beautifully written letters to his friend in Lahore really attracted me.

I wanted to do a play on the letters and realised if I read the letters people will not find it interesting. So I decided to connect Ghalib’s letters with his poetry and music. Later, I thought why not interpret these couplets in dance form and Kathak seemed like a good choice. So I connected with Nadam Dance Institute where I met Nandini Alva and Murali. Nandhini choreographed these dance compositions after acquiring a thorough understanding of these couplets. She took some three months to choreograph. Smitha Srinivasan, a kathak artiste, performed and Raghupathi Jha sang the ghazels. That’s how the whole play got created.

I did my first show in Ravindra Kalakshetra where the audience had to stand and watch the play as the hall was completely packed. This encouraged me to stage it in different places. If you read his letters, you will go back into time and feel nostalgic about how India was then.

The script injects a lot of pathos into the play. Is it reflective of the mood of the era, particularly after the sunset of the Mughal rule?

Yes. Most of Ghalib’s poetry speaks about pathos. And no doubt he had a different life after the Revolt of 1857. He had a sense of humour and faced many difficulties in his life. But he coped with it through his poetry. For instance, his seven children died in child birth. He was at the brink of financial ruin. But he took that as an inspiration for his ghazals and writing elevated his pain. The way he saw his lif