Recently I had the opportunity to witness a performance of that oft-mentioned Hyderabadi play; Taramati: the legend of an Artist. After reading about it far too many times in the papers, I thought what the hell, may as well check it out.
The play relates a rather romanticized (ie, questionable) version of the tale of Taramati and her affairs with the penultimate Qutub Shahi king, Abdullah. The play itself was OK… I didn’t really care for the performances, good though they were. The language was high falutin Urdu, even for me. Which bothered me: Why use north Indian style Urdu in a play about the birth of Hyderabadi tehzeeb? Hyderabadi Urdu, or Dakkani, is as ancient as the northern variant, and a literary language for longer. So it would seem logical to employ Dakkani here, would it not? Intelligibility for a wider audience certainly wasn’t a consideration, that’s for sure.
According to the Hindu, it was a play with a difference. Huh.
Staged at the historical Taramati Baradari, the attempt to re-create the 17th century era of Taramati was indeed a successful one.
.. except for “Jai Ho” blaring from next door.
No one complained climbing the steep steps to make themselves comfortable to the open air seating arrangement.
Speak for yourself.
Interestingly the girl who played Sailaja is Baig’s assistant and was roped in the last minute as the original Sailaja met with an accident.
Or as Baig put it, “… she fell down and broke her limbs”. Plural. Ouch! It’s a looong way down.
When the scene of Milad-un-nabi was on, the audience couldn’t help but take out their hand-phones and record the scene.
I disagree. It was pageantry and didn’t add anything to the story. It was the theatrical version of an item number.
Apparently the reviewer had a couple of personal barbs to deliver too…
Arif did a wonderful job, he would have suited the role even better had he focussed on gaining a few kilos.
Ouch! Poor Abdullah!
This way he would have not only looked a real Prince but would have matched with Taramati as well.
Ouch! Poor Taramati!
Valaraukar 