For Mohammad Ali Baig, theatre is a spectacle, a larger than life experience that connects you with your heritage. The soft-spoken Padma Shri awardee was recently in the city with his latest production “Quli: Dilon Ka Shahzaada” and “1857:Turrebaaz Khan”. When most move from theatre to moving images, Baig did it the other way round. After making 450 ad films and documentaries, he turned to something he inherited from his father, Qadir Ali Baig, a doyen of drama.
“I never wanted to be in theatre as it was very stark and intense for me. Also, it was very difficult to live upto the persona and standard of my father. I didn’t want to dilute his persona and stature. I still never dare to reproduce a play that he had done.” Moving images attracted him. But, on his father's 20th death anniversary, when Baig accompanied his mother to the function, he felt static. “Everybody was talking about my father, talking about someone they lost 20 years ago but it looked like they were talking about someone they lost last week with choked voices and moist eyes. And here I was jet setting with babes and hunks on beaches and snow-capped mountains. I realised I was investing my entire creative input to sell a service or product. I was not apologetic about it but felt why I can’t do similar investment in something which is part of my legacy.”
At Monsoon restaurant in Le Meridien, the chef is trying something similar. He has turned utthapam and into what Baig calls, “avant garde cuisine”. “It is as delicious as it is pleasing to the eye,” remarks Baig.
Baig's ambitious journey started with “Taramati”, a grand production where he amazed many by putting live horses and camels on the hillock in Hyderabad's Taramati Baradari. However, he soon realised that this grandeur can't be transported. “The audience flocked to watch it but it takes 60 percent of the budget of the festival. “Taramati” was huge and everybody wanted it. But then I couldn’t travel with it. It was designed to be staged at a monument.”
He realised that the production should look grand but technically he should make it in such a way that it is portable. “Being a producer, you know how and what you can recreate at at what cost and in what time. Different festivals give you different time durations for setting up. In Edinburgh, where Turrebaaz Khan was staged this year, the set up time was 15 minutes. One one venue there were 200 plays. So we had design foldable sets and props.” Still, the cost of logistics makes it expensive. “I am not apologetic about my price and I get it,” Baig avers. When he started, one thing that he wanted to establish was that “theatrewallahs are not becharas.” “I wanted to break the image that theatre guys are poor people who indulge in intellectual talk for their own creative satisfaction.”
He insists that he is the highest paid theatre actor in the country who doesn't have a Bollywood background. “People pay 1000 rupees to watch them owing to their Bollywood innings. People pay the same amount to watch me purely as a theatre actor. That is the dignity that I wanted as a theatre actor. My theatre is a celebration of life. When a classical musician can demand certain fancy perks, why can't a theatre practitioner,” he argues.
He admits some critics call his work designer theatre. “Some even call it Page 3 theatre and I take it as a compliment. Everything doesn't need to be morose and depressing. I can't do theatre with two chairs in jeans and T-shirt.”
For “Turrebaaz Khan”, he created the entire forest. “Aesthetics and design are very important for me. It is a visual medium and I have the luxury of being a second generation theatre person.”
He brings the same aesthetics to the table as well. From him the design of cutlery and garnishing is as important as the taste. Baig's grandfather Mehmood Ali Baig was the special attache to the Nizam of Hyderabad. So taste for royal cuisine and etiquette run in his blood. “We could not be seen in night suit on break fast table even on Sunday mornings. We could not turn up for high tea in riding boots. Such nuances bring in lot of discipline and etiquette.” But sometimes you have to suffer when the company doesn't compliment. “You revel in that suffering,” notes Baig.
No wonder, he is known as a wonderful host. After every performance, he treats his cast to the traditional sit-down chowki dinner, which is prepared under the supervision of his mother. What he doesn't like is when his hosts, on foreign tours, treat him to Hyderabadi cuisine. “Once in Israel, even as I prepared to eat something local, they offered me Hyderabadi biryani and they were apologetice for not being able to find good curd. I could not say anything but felt I didn't travel 5000 miles to have biryani!” he exclaims.
Inspired by Greek spectacles, Baig picks stories which are relevant in contemporary scenario. Based in the 17th century.“Quli: Dilon Ka Shahzaada”, is a love story of the founder of Hyderabad and his beloved Bhagmati. “It can be the story of two people in love today anywhere in the world. Two different people coming from diverse backgrounds overcoming all barriers to unite into one single universal relationship. It depicts the syncretic culture of Hyderabad. While the premise is historical, the entire treatment is very modern. I try to be honest because it is not right to fictionalise or romanticise personalities when they or their immediate families are not there to defend them. It is a two fold responsibility. The essence is historical, but it is not done in Mughal-e-Azam style,” says Baig. He has an explanation. “It is not possible that Akbar will always be seen with crown. He doesn’t need to prove his wife that he is the emperor of India. These are stereotypes. Things should not challenge you intellectually.”
Similarly, he says, Quli was a poet king who expressed in four languages and Bhagamti was a devadasi who used to dance and sing. “Quli doesn’t sit with 15 kilo crown and Bhagmati doesn’t run in heavy jewelery. Perhaps, they were performing artists themselves, who performed in Golconda Fort. Quli had a heart and this is what the play reflects. Bhagmati was not a concubine for him. He married her and made her the queen.” To celebrate the love story, the play is performed every month at Golconda Fort.
Time for dessert and we have gulab jamun in the company of. “I love desserts but on the day of performance. Please help me perform tonight!” sums up Baig even as we share sweet somethings.
