Qadir Ali Baig theatre festival to kick off tomorrow

HYDERABAD: The Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival is set to kick off in the city on Monday, bringing to Hyderabad some of the most renowned Indian and international theatre artistes. The inaugural ceremony of the event - scheduled between November 18 and 24 - will be held at the Salar Jung Museum and will see the participation of theatre personalities like Vijaya Mehta, Mohan Agashe, Vani Ganapathy and Mohammad Ali Baig among others.
The fest has been an annual feature on the city's theatre calendar for the past eight years and is organized to pay tribute to theatre legend late Qadir Ali Baig. The event is directed
by his son Mohammad Ali Baig. This year, it will be held across multiple venues including Salar Jung museum, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium, Alliance Francaise and the Trident Hotel.
"For us, it's an annual get-together of the country's theatre fraternity, a reunion of the theatre family in Hyderabad to pay tribute to Qadir da", said Usha Ganguli, theatre personality from Kolkata.
The theme for the fest this year is 'Love Stories'. On the festival's itinerary are plays like '9 parts of Desire' directed by Lillette Dubey, 'Biwi-o-Biwi' directed by Rakkesh Bedi and 'Miss Julie', a dark love story directed by Sohaila Kapur. Also on the schedule is the book release and reading of Habib Tanvir's 'Memoirs' and a workshop on Realistic Acting to be conducted
by Baharul Islam and Bhagirathi, directors of the Seagull Repertory and visiting faculty, National School of Drama. The foundation's production 'Quli: Dilon Ka Shahzaada' will be staged on the final day of the festival.
"It is heartening to see that an event which started as a son's tribute to his father has now turned into one of the most prestigious theatre festivals held across the subcontinent,Theatre performers all over the country look forward to this time of the year to come to Hyderabad and be part of this extravaganza,
" said Mohammad Ali Baig. Close to 200 national and international performers are expected to participate in the week-long fest which will feature plays in Hindi, English and Urdu.