Theatre activity is something you imagine taking place in enclosed restricted side areas with the hurry and flurry contained inside musty backstage rooms. But Aamir Raza Husain changed that dimension of Indian theatre forever with his last play Legend of Ram -- Prince of India. Now, he is back in Mumbai with a new play that pushes these boundaries even further.The theatre dust is still there but rising upwards and streaming under the glare of stadium lights. The set-making exercise resembles a construction site and the cast a small army. But then Saare Jahan Se Achcha is about battles, a fight for freedom. "It is a circular view of India's freedom struggle. Besides the mainstream movement dominated by Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah, there were other streams flowing too along the side. Unfortunately Indian history, as it is written, is one dimensional. But our freedom struggle, as a whole, makes for a brilliant story," explains Husain.
No one will contest that, but any story sung too often becomeshackneyed to its listeners. And currently, patriotism is a mass-marketed product, an ad jingle in India -- hardly a state of mind. Is he sure that he can pull in the audiences? "I am not sure at all. But the story has all the elements of drama and I am here to entertain not preach or reform. If anybody takes back a message, it is their prerogative. But if people sit through the length of the play and walk out saying that they didn't realise the time passing by, I would have succeeded," he says.
And capturing time successfully is Husain's biggest challenge here. There are centuries squeezed in the nearly three-hour long play. Starting with scenes from The Mahabharata, which depicts one of the most violent phases of Indian history, it culminates with the fruit of Gandhi's non-violent movement. To capture the essence of each time frame, Husain is using 55 sets which will move on rails one after the other, in front of the audience. The play has picked up incidents from Indian history and woven themtogether with a narrative in Hindustani. Otherwise, it is mostly in Hindustani and English with some parts in various regional languages.
"These are jhalaks of India which give the whole picture," says Husain. And perhaps a clearer picture too. The play is also an attempt to thin the mist shrouding the past which damns the villains and worships the heroes. A team of Jawharlal Nehru University professors, headed by Bhagwan Josh, have done the research for Husain.
"Mountbatten wasn't exactly the good friend of India that he is made out to be. His most important decision, about the date of Independence, was dictated by his ego. And Nehru wasn't blameless for the Partition.
Unfortunately, people are fed a pre-digested version of history," says Husain.
And he has packaged his punch in a production which is costing around Rs 1.4 crore, much more than his last play. His title sponsors are the Max Touch Cultural Heritage series and Aditya Birla with WelcomeGroup's Welcometheatre also a part of theaction. The play is going to take up an area of 55,000 sqft and will include scenes such as a train blowing up and a ship, on the set, to depict the 1947 Bombay Naval Mutiny. Backstage, two huge hydraulic pumps will be putting the sets in position with some being lifted by a crane.
It sounds almost too big. The play opens next week on April 8, 1989 and just two weeks before the opening, only the skeletons of the 55 sets are visible at the venue, few parts of the cast haven't been finalised and the actors are still sitting together and reading the script. Is the size slowing down the production? Husain admits that things are behind schedule but he says they will soon be putting in 15-hour work days and he is quite confident about meeting the deadline. At least 20 shows will be put up and the play will later go to Delhi. Husain says that he is the first one to try something so big anywhere in the world. And though Legend of Ram ran into production problems, as a theatre piece it was appreciated. Secondtime round, Husain's had a chance to iron out the problems of a mammoth-size production and Saare Jahan Se Achcha might just go down in history as one of the greatest shows, besides being one of the biggest plays ever.
On April 08, 1998 at Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, Worli Seaface. Tickets, priced between Rs 2,500 and Rs 250, will be available at the Rhythm House, Kala Ghoda and at the venue.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
