CENTRE STAGE
MEMORABLE SHOW BRINGS SAHIR TO LIFE
Manmeet Narang as Sahir Ludhianvi.
By SHAGORIKA EASWAR
A friend sent me a video clip of Yeh raat, yeh chandni phir kahan... recently and I wrote back that I loved the song, and it was one of my mother’s favourites, as well.
And I was happy to share that the very same evening we were going to attend a performance of Aap Ka Khayal Aaya as part of the Sawitri Shorts Festival.
With performances every weekend in April, the festival brought 16 performances in seven languages – Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati Marathi, Urdu, English and Hinglish – to audiences.
This year, the focus was on bringing Indian folk-theatre style to stage, bhavai in Gujarati and vag in Marathi. And new for this year was the Bollywood nostalgia series I was excited to attend.
Aap Ka Khayal Aaya was a tribute to two legendary artistes who ruled the silver screens in India during the 50s, 60s and 70s – poet and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi and actor-director-writer-producer Dev Anand.
Conceptualized by Sundeep Pahwa, the play wove some unforgettable numbers into the tapestry of the show which was based around a war poem. Talkhiyan expresses Ludhianvi’s anguish over war. The Arab-Israel conflict in the Middle East, over the Suez Canal, and World War II.
Jasmine Sawant, founder and artistic co-director of Sawitri, made an unexpected and brave choice, of having a female play the poet-lyricist. It worked wonderfully, with Manmeet Narang evoking imagery through her virtuoso performance. As she walked the stage, contemplative, hands behind her back, her gender became immaterial as she spoke of a lost love and railed against the hatred and the bloodshed. The rallying cry of Jang se nafrat hai had tears streaming down her face.
Superb translations were projected on a screen to help those members of the audience who were not fluent in Urdu.
Just before the performance began, Jasmine had shared with me that the songs performed for the segment on Sahir would be without background music.
Raghuram and Nandita Ramesh did full justice to her vision, bringing the beautiful lyrics to the fore.
That these songs have resonated through generations was evident in the appreciative whispers of “beautiful, beautiful” and the audience humming along, clapping, as the import of the lyrics were absorbed.
The words sank in.
It was noticeable throughout the performance but particularly in songs like Kabhi khud pe, kabhi halaat pe rona aaya. When Raghuram sang Kaun rota hai kisi aur ki khaatir ae dost, Sab ko apni hi kisi baat pe rona aaya there was spontaneous appreciation.
It’s an onerous undertaking, selecting from the writer’s massive repertoire, and the audience was treated to perennial favourites such as:
Hum aap ki aankhon mein.. toh
Kabhi kabhi
Yeh kooche yeh… kahan hain jinhe naaz hai Hind pe
Jane woh kaise log the jinke
Aurat ne janam diya mardo ko
Kabhi khud pe kabhi halaat pe rona
Jahan mein aisa kaun hai ke jisko gham mila nahi
Jayein toh jayein kahan
And also relatively unknown but ever so meaningful and still relevant ones like Lo aaj ham ne tod diya rishta-e-ummeed / lo ab kabhi gila na kareñge kisi se ham.
Shruti Shah dances with Dhruv Naik playing Dev Anand.
Dev Anand was an entertainer par excellence and his style, his polished, urbane persona shone through in the segment on him.
Artistic co-director Shruti Shah played a devoted fan of Dev Anand, who in a fun twist is named Rajni after a character of the same name played by Kalpana Kartik in a Dev Anand movie!
Reminiscing over the movies she’d watched since a young girl – confessing to having sneaked out to watch Hum Dono – educating her son about films from a bygone era he only knows through Google.
This was done through old songs and top hits on Binaca Geet Mala that she knew by heart.
Abhi na jao chhod kar
Ae dil hai mushkil
Dum maro dum
Aankhon hi aankhon
Main zindagi ko dhuein mein udata
Aah chhod do aanchal
Ankhon mein kya ji
Accha ji main haari
Raat akeli hai
A light-hearted, fun exchange, with her insisting “Ma knows best” to his claiming Google knew better.
I loved that they had the young Kathak dancer Tanvir Alam perform Mose chhal kiye jae and Piya tose naina lage re, Waheeda Rehman’s unforgettable dance numbers from Guide.
Neeraj Yadav was a superb MC and both segments made for a happy trip down memory lane. I am looking forward to repeat performances, and of Aap Ka Khayal Aaya being expanded to include other greats. There are lyricists, music directors, singers and actors who have become immortal through their work. Kaifi Azmi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala... the list is long and illustrious!
Sawitri has won the love of a core audience – one sees familiar faces at most of their productions. They have garnered the admiration of the theatre community – and have given breaks to many aspiring actors as well as those who come to Canada from a theatre background and look for avenues to quench their creative thirst.
They have won recognition including the prestigious Martys Award for excellence in theatre.
And yet, like many independent theatre companies, they struggle for mainstream recognition.
The tide may be turning with Sawitri’s production of Lahore being presented by the Toronto History Museums in Toronto.
Watch this space for details!