A shayarana evening in Lucknow

'Dilli Ki Aakhri Shama', a poetic drama, was recently staged at

Sangeet Natak Academy

. Interestingly, the same mushaira was originally organised by

Bahadur Shaha Zafar

, the last Mughal emperor in 1845. The play highlighted different kinds of shayari in the Mughal era.

(L)

Anis Ansari

(C) Anita Narain (R) Dr Sabnam Rizvi (BCCL/ Aditya Yadav)

Anis Ansari, the chief guest, inaugurated the event by lighting the lamp. While Dr

Ashfaq Ahamad

portrayed Bahadur Shah Zafar, Nawab Mirza Khan was played by Ram Naresh Maurya. Zaheeruddin Khan played by

Amit Prakash

, earned many compliments for his acting. "Uss zamaane mein do tarah ke shaayar hua karte thay, darbari shaayar aur avaami shaayar," informed Pradeep Srivastava, the director of the play.

(L) Harish (R) Pradeep Srivastava (BCCL/ Aditya Yadav)

Performances of

Nawab Masood Mir Abdullah

as Mirza Fakhru, Athar Nabi as Ghalib, Nawab Jafar Mir Abdullah as Momin Khan Momin and

Gopal Sinha

as Ibrahim Jauk, were appreciated by the audience.
By Rahul Goreja

(L) Prem Lata Gulati (R) Zainab (BCCL/ Aditya Yadav)