My Father His Exalted Highness — tale of a king who loved his people

HYDERABAD: The 14th Qadir Ali Baig Theatre festival opened with the eponymous foundation’s new production ‘My Father His Exalted Highness’ at Ravindra Bharathi on Friday. The play centres on the last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan and his little-known daughter Shehzadi Pasha, who devoted 57 years of her life looking after him.
Set between 1937 and 1967 with the Nazir Bagh Palace of King Koti in the backdrop, the play not only touches on the personal but also the universal.It focuses on the last 30 years of the Nizam’s life as well as on larger themes such as loyalty, diversity, secularity and governance.
Most history books while retelling the ‘story’ of the independence struggle has often painted the king in darker shades – first, that he wished to accede to Pakistan and second, his lack of cooperation with the Indian government. The play dispels both notions. The seventh Nizam, rather, is shown as a man who was so engaged with the concerns of his people, which his ancestors too had done, that he was not sure that the new the government will be able to look after them like his family did.
Mohan Agashe, who plays the role of the Nizam, is not only his usual brilliant self but also his change of tonal quality and gait in keeping with his ageing character is mesmerising.
In keeping with the theme of familial relationships, Shehzadi Pasha, played by Noor Baig, who also wrote the play, provides the audience with a point of view which is neither blurred by a king’s single-minded sense of duty, nor blinded by an aide’s loyalty.