Mohammad Ali Baig returns to Bangalore with his epic, Quli: Dilon Ka Shahzaada . The super successful ad filmmaker-turned-theatre personality talks of his fondness for spectacle and epic settings among other things. Excerpts.
What is the plot of Quli: Dilon ka Shahzaada?
Quli is based on the well-loved tale of the poet prince, Quli Qutb Shah’s love for the singer-danseuse Bhagmati. Their marriage led to the founding of of Bhagyanagar, which came to be known as Hyderabad.
Why did you choose to stage a play about the founder of Hyderabad, in Bengaluru?
It is a beautiful story of two people committed in love, one happens to be a prince of a certain era and milieu, the other a commoner. It could be any two people in love today, anywhere around the globe. The play’s appeal is timeless and universal, transcending barriers of culture, language and region, in the true spirit of theatre that I have been brought up in by late Qadir Ali Baig sahab. Bangalore’s evolved theatre audience will surely connect with this kind of theatre as people did in Europe, the US and Canada.
You have written and directed the play. How difficult was it to multitask?
I am most comfortable directing and performing what I have conceived, structured and designed. I work on a simple premise that if as a director-performer, I am not moved by a piece of writing, I wouldn’t subject my audience to it. I bring out certain sensibilities and aesthetics on stage. Most of the plays I’ve directed and acted in have either been written by Baba (my Dad) or co-written with Noor, with whom I share a common thought-pattern among other things.
We are young nation, which does not look back. Do you think this is foolhardy as there is a lot you can learn from history?
History is relevant even in today’s times. It’s our past which shapes our future, not many of us realise that. There are countless lessons in history that could shape any young nation, its rulers as well as citizens. And like everyone else, I am a product of my upbringing. To have been born into the Baig legacy of theatre was an advantage and to have grown up in strict Nizamian traditions, watching the making of family’s epic pageants was truly inspiring, something that shaped my visual imagery both as a playwright-director in theatre and as an ad-filmmaker.
You left a flourishing ad career in Bengaluru to set up the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation 10 years ago in Hyderabad. How does it feel to return to Bengaluru? Has it changed for the better or worse?
I have very fond memories of Bangalore, of my years at Odyssey Communications. Today, I feel that Bangalore is losing its purity and is beginning to look like any other busy Indian metro. It pains to see the Vidhan Soudha avenue with the majestic High Court façade now sliced beyond recognition with the metro rail track. So also the M.G. Road. Guess the so-called ‘modernisation’ takes its sad toll on the real essence of any ‘growing’ city.
You stage your plays in iconic settings. Not so this time around. Comment.
For me, it’s a challenge to adapt the epic production design to intimate spaces like I did at the NCPA Fest in Mumbai or Herisson en Fete in France.
While I enjoy performing in the open, at forts and palaces to massive turnouts of 1500 plus audience, I’ve also begun to enjoy the intimate rapport with niche audience in a ‘thrust’ as much as I love the ‘arena’. Besides, Windsor Manor is iconic too, its heritage structure and understated elegance always appealed to me. I was a regular at their once open- air verandah for high-teas.
Could you tell us about your film role?
It’s a very interesting project for international festivals and audience circuit. The role is of the male lead, a North Indian commando posted in Chennai as a top cop for an anti-terrorist commando operation. An IPS officer with a tough exterior but humane and sensitive within.
Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation’s ' Quli: Dilon ka Shahzaada' will be performed on March 28 at 7.30 p.m. at the ITC Windsor Manor
