When Mirza meets Mika

Manika Ahuja

He has no flashy degrees in drama to boast about. All he has is an unflinching belief in the power of his pen and the magic of writing original plays.

“I find theatrical adaptations intellectually bankrupt. The handful of Hindi plays penned by stalwarts such as Girish Karnad and Vijay Tendulkar have been done to death. Original plays are what we really need,” reasons popular playwright, director and actor M Sayeed Alam, dressed as one of his favourite Urdu poets, Ghalib, for a theatrical performance at Chandigarh’s Tagore Theatre.

The proud alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University cannot conceal the spark in his eyes, as he gets talking about his play— Ghalib in New Delhi, which he claims has been staged as many as 400 times over a period of two decades.

“What fascinated me was the fact that the literary genius Ghalib garnered maximum popularity posthumously. His modern outlook back in those days is what I admire the most. He was a bridge between India’s glaring transitional movement towards modernity,” shares Alam.

Ghalib in 21st century

As he puts it, his satirical play Ghalib in New Delhi revolves around Mirza Ghalib’s visit to the Capital in the 21st century. And if it is the current scenario he is placing under scanner, it is naturally imperative for the play’s script to remain abreast with the current happenings. “Well, indeed, it is. I update the matter after every two-three days. In fact, that is precisely why I prefer original literary compositions. A classic play would not have allowed me to make new additions in the matter. The Ghalib in my play, however, interacts with modern-day celebs such as Mika and Honey Singh” he informs.

Subtle message

According to Alam, a playwright’s responsibility ends when his act is ready to be presented to the audience. “Allow the audience absolute liberty to derive whatever interpretation they wish to, instead of being preachy,” he shares.

The multi-tasker spills the beans on his creative conviction, “One has to read between the lines to decipher.”

Back to the roots

While categorising Ghalib in New Delhi as a historical play which abounds in comic elements, Alam stresses on the essence of the play, “What drove me to pen the play was my strong urge to place Ghalib in 21st century New Delhi. The play explores the flipside of modernisation and progress.”

Though the research work involved in presenting a historical play is admittedly “taxing” for the playwright, he knows that it is essential to familiarise the millennials with “unexplored facets culled from India’s rich history, so as to drive the youngsters back to their roots.”