Monday, November 21, 2005
Begum Jaan
Today I had the opportunity to visit Chowmahalla palace. We got an invitation from ITC Kakatiya Sheraton Hotels to watch a drama ‘ Begum Jaan’ staged by Adir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation, written by Javed Siddiqui and directed by Nadira Zaheer Babbar.
This was a special occasion for me for two reasons:
This is the first time I got an opportunity to see Chowmhalla Palace from inside. The palace is presently inhabited by the descendents of the erstwhile Nizam and only opened recently for special invitees for special occasions.
In Hyderabad, we rarely get opportunity to watch classic drama, which I genuinely miss from my life at Kolkata, where I was a theatre buff.
ITC Kakatiya Sheraton Hotels have tied up with the Chowmahalla Palace owners for using the palace for organizing classic events. This was there first promotional event. Chowmahalla palace is situated near Charminar of Old city of Hyderabad. We really enjoyed the whole experience. There could not have been a better place to stage this drama. The aura of the ambience of the palace, which was lit up for the occasion as a backdrop for the drama was really wonderful.
The drama revolves around the character Begum Jaan, a renowned singer of yesteryears, her grand daughter Zahira and an opportunist journalist Sanjay Pande. The story is something like this; Journalist Sanjay Pande comes to Begum Jaan as a tenant, but his actual motive is to get the secrets of Begum Jaan to wirte a book on her. In his pursuit of getting the secrets he uses the grand daughter, who eventually falls in love with him. But the old woman is clever enough to recognize the ploy. And ultimately Zahira, the grand daughter realizes the real intention of Sanjay Pande and through him out from her life.
It is drama with lots of emotions interspersed with humour. We thoroughly enjoyed the drama and acting of actress Nadira Babbar (famous theatre personality in India) and her daughter Juhi Babbar.
It also gave me some thought for introspection; Urdu literature is such a rich and enjoyable literature, but now days the same is being neglected as we normally consider it associated with Pakistan and Islam.
This was a special occasion for me for two reasons:
This is the first time I got an opportunity to see Chowmhalla Palace from inside. The palace is presently inhabited by the descendents of the erstwhile Nizam and only opened recently for special invitees for special occasions.
In Hyderabad, we rarely get opportunity to watch classic drama, which I genuinely miss from my life at Kolkata, where I was a theatre buff.
ITC Kakatiya Sheraton Hotels have tied up with the Chowmahalla Palace owners for using the palace for organizing classic events. This was there first promotional event. Chowmahalla palace is situated near Charminar of Old city of Hyderabad. We really enjoyed the whole experience. There could not have been a better place to stage this drama. The aura of the ambience of the palace, which was lit up for the occasion as a backdrop for the drama was really wonderful.
The drama revolves around the character Begum Jaan, a renowned singer of yesteryears, her grand daughter Zahira and an opportunist journalist Sanjay Pande. The story is something like this; Journalist Sanjay Pande comes to Begum Jaan as a tenant, but his actual motive is to get the secrets of Begum Jaan to wirte a book on her. In his pursuit of getting the secrets he uses the grand daughter, who eventually falls in love with him. But the old woman is clever enough to recognize the ploy. And ultimately Zahira, the grand daughter realizes the real intention of Sanjay Pande and through him out from her life.
It is drama with lots of emotions interspersed with humour. We thoroughly enjoyed the drama and acting of actress Nadira Babbar (famous theatre personality in India) and her daughter Juhi Babbar.
It also gave me some thought for introspection; Urdu literature is such a rich and enjoyable literature, but now days the same is being neglected as we normally consider it associated with Pakistan and Islam.
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