As Sayeed Alam’s play Big B draws audiences in Delhi, he regrets not being able to put it up in Prithvi theatre, he tells Anuradha Varma In his 16-year-long career, which saw him become “playwright by choice, director by chance and an actor by force”, Sayeed Alam has performed in Prithvi theatre just once.
Alam counts himself among the few playwrights writing original scripts, in a theatre scene filled mostly with adaptations. His play Big B is an inspired piece of writing, based on the late Hindi writer, Munshi Premchand’s work Bade Bhai Saheb. In ‘Hinglish’, the play is about two brothers — the ‘studious’ Kamta Prasad and the younger ‘sporty’ Samta Prasad. Alam plays the elder brother who mentors his brother with lessons in English, even as he fails his own classes. In ‘broken English’, the play includes lines such as “Do not go outside, it is very nighty”.
Alam shares his favourite moment in the play, “‘He walks’ becomes ‘She walksy’ for a woman.” The play also introduces a younger generation to Premchand’s work. He adds, “I’ve been reading Premchand since I was a child and find him a great humourist. Unlike other writers, he doesn’t need to concoct situations to create humour; it is understated, unassuming, true to life and very natural.”
He says it was common earlier for the elder sibling to act as self-appointed guardian for those younger. “It’s everybody’s story. My brother did the same with me. I had a roommate in college when I studied in Aligarh, and he would tell me to study hard and not waste my parents’ money, when he himself had failed quite a few classes. I used to wonder, ‘What about you?’”
Among the plays Alam has penned are Ghalib in New Delhi and Maulana Azad, both featuring actor Tom Alter. While the 103rd show of Big B was held recently, Ghalib… has crossed 300 shows. And though the group has performed in Mumbai, Prithvi Theatre remains a dream. Alam believes it’s become the exclusive ground for a few theatre groups. He says, “Outstation theatre groups are welcomed in Delhi, but that’s not so in Prithvi. There are four or five theatre groups, which I don’t want to name, who perform there regularly.”
On his association with Tom Alter, he says, “I was looking for an actor to play Maulana Azad and somebody suggested I watch the film Shatranj Ke Khiladi. I found Tom spoke better Urdu than the main protagonists played by Saeed Jaffrey and Sanjeev Kumar. In fact, he speaks better Urdu than me too. His acting is effortless and his knowledge of Indian culture is amazing.”
Another wish is to have Naseeruddin Shah watch his play Big B. Reveals Alam, “I was inspired to write the play after a reading of Bade Bhai Saheb by Naseeruddin.”
We wish him luck!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/people/Prithvi-theatre-doesnt-encourage-outsiders/articleshow/9490846.cms
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