Tom Alter’s festival ‘Jashn-e-Maazi’ offers a unique look at history

MUMBAI: Veteran film and theatre actor Tom Alter will enact a festival of his various plays in Hindi, English, Hindustani and Urdu at the Y.B. Cavan Centre here from March 7 to April 2. The first-of-its kind festival, titled features 19 of Alter’s portrayals and adaptations of leading historical figures such as Maulana Azad, Mirza Ghalib, Manto, Saahir Ludhianvi, Rabindranath Tagore, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Alfred Einstein and Mahatma Gandhi.
The festival will open on March 17 with a three-man performance titled - in Urdu, English and Hindi - which includes the teachings of Swami Vikekananda, passages from the Mahabharata and the nuances of Bob Dylan, also featuring veteran actors Uday Chandra and Chandar Khanna, and close on April 2 with the Hindi play - directed by and starring Alter with Benjamin Gilani and Harish Chhabra - which looks at what could have happened had Mahatma Gandhi not died from the shot fired by Nathuram Godse, and the possible dialogue between the two in adjacent prison cells thereafter.

Headlining the festival are Alter’s seminal works on stage, directed by Dr M. Sayeed Alam, the eminent playwright and director of Pierrot’s Troupe: namely his portrayal of Maulana Azad in Urdu in a one-man show spanning two-and-a-half hours; , a unique look at the life of Ghalib, through the letters he wrote to his and admirers; set in 1850 at the the Lal Qila in Delhi in which legendary poets such as Ghalib, Zafar, Zauq, Daag and Momin are reprised; ‘ (English and Hindi) based on the original play in English by Salman Khursheed; and ‘Saahir, A Tribute’ which recalls the life and times of the great poet and lyricist Saahir Ludhianvi through his memories, poetry, and songs.
Other notable performances include landmark plays which Alter has featured in over the past 15 years, such as , the influential playwright Badal Sarcar’s scathing look at the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki through a uniquely Indian vision, and which looks at the life and times of psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion, which has been conceived and written by Meg Harris Williams.
Also featured are dance-and poetry-infused acts based on the works of Ghalib, Rabindranath Tagore and Ranjit Hoskote among others, and ’, a recitation of and of 34 great poets, accompanied by vocals and dance.