Taramati - A Hindi Play: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR TARAMATI - A HINDI...

With one of the biggest backstage ensembles that modern theater in India has seen in recent times, this play promises to be as spectacular as its venue.

Taramati Baradari will come alive on 14th and 15th January with the stage set for the play Legend Of Taramati. The play is about a quintessential artist, whose life makes the statement that art is timeless and that it has no religion. Her heart and art push her toward her destiny; her mind and immediate feelings pull her the other way.

Taramati is torn between her heart and mind, until love unites the two. A simple and innocent village girl, she becomes the very focus of the life of King Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah (the grandson of the founder of Hyderabad, Mohammed Quli Qutb Shah) as his love. Through a tumultuous journey, she remains the same simple and innocent young woman - an idealist to the core till the very end.

Her concern are the common folk. Almost unwittingly, she uses the power of her art to make the Sultan realise his own destiny. Taramati, over the centuries, has travelled from heart to heart, through generations, as a true artist in divine love.

The play is a grand theatre spectacle produced and directed by adfilm maker and theater personality, Mohammad Ali Baig, at the centuries-old, historic monument of Taramati Baradari, on lines of the trend-setting pageants that his late father, theatre legend Qadir Ali Baig, had pioneered in the early '70s. Baig, known for his epic scale international ad-films (for the Aditya Birla Group, Coke, Ford etc.), brings in his characteristic spectacular-feel to the production, and has lined up one of the biggest backstage ensembles that modern theater in India has seen in recent times.

Written by Delhi-based playwright and poet Ashok Lal (Maa Retire Hoti Hai), it has music by Kaarthik Illaiyaraja (music maestro Illaiyaraja's son), lights and sets by Padmasri M S Sathyu, choreography by Bharat Sharma & costumes by Lakshmi Devi Raj. The cast includes dancer/actress Madhu Swaminathan in the title role, ex-model and TV actor Tarun Dhanrajgir (model for Mafatlal and Raymonds, and actor in Gulzar's Tera Panneh, Pride And Predujice and Hema Malini's Trishna) as the poet Sultan.

Some soul-stirring songs have been sung by Madhushree (Rang De Basanti, Rangeela, Yuva, Guru). The play is being presented in association with APTDC and ADAGE.

The Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation was founded by Mohammed Ali Baig, an advertising wizard, in memory of his father Quadir Ali Baig who was a doyen of Hindustani theater. It was established in an attempt at revival of the theater which had lost its sheen. The foundation has on board danseuse Vani Ganapathy, artistes Rohini Hattangadi, Suhasini Mani Ratnam and Urmila Matondkar, lyricist Javed Akhtar and director M S Sathyu.

The foundation not only stages plays regularly every month, but also imparts basic training in all aspects of theater so that young talent gets nurtured. Begum Razia Qadir Ali Baig, wife of Qadir Ali, is the chairperson of the foundation, while Sathyu is the national director and Mohammad Ali is the president.

The entry to the play is by tickets which cost Rs. 200 and Rs. 500 per head. For further details, please contact 98490-66522.