Urdu literary giant Zaman mirrored creativity, passion

HYDERABAD:

Urdu

literary great

Kadir Zaman

, who passed away recently, had produced several works in Urdu and English.

Besides being an eminent advocate and civil activist, he served as member of the general council of Sahitya Akademi. He was also founder-member of Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation.

Kadir was a story writer, playwright, essayist and translator. His original works included 'The Man and the Parrot'- a collection of short plays; 'Langda Ghodaa'; and 'Open Book', a compilation of short stories, plays and articles. He had several publications on legal studies. His plays were broadcast on radio.

Kadir translated into Urdu a number of classics including the works of Dostoyevsky,

Dario Fo

, Oedipus Rex, Sophocles, Albee, Vemana, Amitav Ghosh's 'Shadow Lines', 'A Living Faith', the autobiography of Asghar Ali Engineer. He ridged Shamsur Rahman Faruqi's 'Kai Chaand thay Saare Asmaan' (The Mirror of Beauty).

He also translated Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation's heritage plays 'Quli: Dilon ka Shahzaada' and 'Savaan-e-Hayat' in Urdu, which have been performed in India, Europe,

North America

and Turkey. "A gem of person and someone who cherished relationships without any personal agenda. It was a privileged learning experience that I will treasure. I remember he flew on his own to Mumbai to give us a surprise when 'Quli: Dilon ka Shahzaada' was opening the NCPA Festival," says Mohammad Ali Baig, director, Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation.

Prof Bhaskar Shewalkar, former head of theatre at the University of Hyderabad, said Kadir's contribution to Urdu literature is immense. "My first interaction with him was when I did his radio play 'Langda Ghodaa' and I performed the same with Shoukat and Kaifi Azmi in the audience. His passing away is a great loss to the Urdu literary world," Bhaskar said.

Senior artiste Aziz said Kadir was a great writer and creative person.