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Photo: K. Gajendran

Straight talk Vinay Varma: ‘Raza was staunchly secular’

Vinay Varma, acclaimed theatre personality from Hyderabad, was so inpired by the life of writer Dr. Rahi Masoon Raza, that he decide to dramatise it as a solo act, “Main Rahi Masoom”. The mono act is a biographical sketch of the famous Hi ndi and Urdu writer, who passed away in 1992.

“Sutradhar chose to work on this play because of Dr. Raza’s secular message. He was a nationalist first and a Muslim later. He had given clear instructions in his vaseeyat (will) that he should be laid to rest in the lap of Ganga, whom he considered his second mother,” said Varma on being asked why he chose to depict the life of Raza. Rahi Masoom Raza was born in 1927 in a small village in the Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh. A writer, poet script-writer and lyricist, he wrote books such as “Adha Gaon” , he is more famous for his extended stint in Bollywood and writing the script of the mega television serial “Mahabharat”. As a script-writer in Bombay he wrote the dialogues for “Main Tulsi Teri Aangan Ki” (1979) for which he won a Filmfare Award .

“Raza was staunchly secular but he detested pseudo-secularists. He was a Communist but when the Communists joined the Muslim League in Kerala he openly criticized them.” The 70-minute long performance explores Raza’s life. The act is a collaborative effort between two theatre groups based in Hyderabad, Rangadhara and Sutradhar. Varma is associated with both the groups and this production is Rangadhara’s 99th production.

The play, when it was performed in Hyderabad, received rave reviews. “We had three shows in Hyderabad. We will also be performing in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and hopefully, in Ahmedabad as well,” said Varma who plays Raza.

The material for the play was gathered by Varma and his team from a 519-page Hindi journal called “Abhinav Kadam”. To compile the script Varma also relied heavily on inputs from Raza’s son, Nadeem Khan. Raza’s wife, Nayyar Jahan, also contributed providing details of little known aspects of Raza’s life. “When I read about Raza’s life some two years ago I was amazed and I knew that we could do a play about this.”

VIKHAR AHMED SAYEED

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