Lost 20th century French opera revives in India

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">new delhi: a french opera which wound up in 1920s when its scores were burnt because the author was a jew, comes alive in the capital this week as a result of an indo-french co-operation directed by renowned filmmaker muzzafar ali. some 140 artistes and technicians from france and india have got together to resurrect <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">the fakir or benares</span> originally composed by leo manueal in france as <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">le fakir de benares</span> in 1922 and successfully performed in paris then.amazingly indian in its conception, characters and ambience, the opera, a touching love story, was re-discovered by priya waeziarg, an artist who is also a lecuturer in greek, while browsing through a paris bookshop some years ago. the story is about sundra, an ugly young lady in benares, played by priya, who falls in love with kandour, a handsome man, who needs her company as he is blind. kandour, played by frederic poilvet, longs to see sundra, who dreads the thought, as she is far from beautiful. then comes the fakir alibek, who offers to cure kandour''s blindness by applying a magical balm. although afraid of losing him, sundra helps kandour apply the magic balm. as she does this, she hides her face in her hands, fearing that kandour would hate her once he regains his sight. revival of the opera was a challenge in itself, with priya making several visits to india in search of the right artists and the right director. </div> </div>