Theatre and film director Feroz Abbas Khan’s latest production, Raunaq & Jassi, with its vast emotional canvas, is relevant to our times, says Saimi Sattar
It could not have been more relevant than in the times we live in. This is a very strong indictment of hate while being a powerful message and celebration of love. The latter has to try harder in the times of hatred. And this is a trying time,” says theatre and film director Feroz Abbas Khan about his latest offering, Raunaq & Jassi. The play is about youngsters from feuding families falling in love, a theme that has been explored since time immemorial and made famous in the Bard’s Romeo & Juliet.
Mention the comparison with William Shakespeare’s play and Feroz points out, “There are basically only seven stories just the way there are only some tunes around which composers make music. What makes a difference is the telling, how it relates to the times we live in and how it is woven together. In that sense, it is not a translation or an adaptation but rather a reimagined version of the original. Here, we have extended the imagination in telling it.” Plus, it is a musical as the entire play is in verse.
So how much time does a reimagining of an existing classic take? Feroz tells us that the journey started from writing. “I am fortunate to have had a wonderful collaboration in creating this original work with Iqbal Raj. He started writing an year ago during which it evolved. The actual production took about a little over three months. The actors had to learn to speak in verse without making it sound that it has been written so. Yet it is colloquial and accessible thus affecting you by its ideas and emotional intensity. This work will be celebrated for a long time to come,” says the director who had enrolled in college to become a Chartered Accountant or a management guy before an encounter with iconic director Peter Brook in Bhopal changed his life.
To execute this play perfectly, there were certain qualities that Feroz had to sift for in his actors. “Besides being good actors, I also needed good singers. They also had to have a personality. Interestingly, I had more options in women than I had in men. Then, I needed a commitment for six months,” says Feroz who became a director by chance when someone who was supposed to direct a play did not turn up and he helmed the project.
He has taken Punjab as the backdrop for telling this tale as it is the place where all the traditional tales of love, like Heer Ranjha, Soni Mahiwal are set. There is something about the land which lends itself to these stories, he feels. Moreover, it is set in the 1950s which Feroz says, “have a certain charm and innocence.”
However, one wonders if the story and the setting would resonate with the millennials, given as they are to making their own choices whether it be careers or life partners? But Feroz avers, “When we talk about millennials, we become very narrow in our thinking and believe that all of them have the choice. How many millennials can marry out of their caste, religion or social set? Freedom to love exists within certain boundaries. And these are more pronounced for women than men. This play has a strong woman who says, ‘why can’t I love the person that I want to love? Why do I have to be in love with the person that you decide? This can’t be anybody else’s decision.’” To Feroz, Jassi, the woman protagonist’s strong voice was very important. “I wouldn’t want to take up anything that doesn’t hold any meaning for me or the audience,” he insists.
Since his last play was Mughal-e-Azam, a Broadway-style musical based on the 1960 eponymous Bollywood film, directed by K Asif, where the canvas was huge, the director has set the bar very high. “There is a visual canvas and an emotional one. The latter is as huge as can be in Raunaq & Jassi. The visual canvas might not be as huge as Mughal-e-Azam but this too is not a small production,” says Feroz who cut his theatrical teeth at Prithvi Theatre with Jennifer Kapoor.
However, this change in tack was more by design than chance as he didn’t want to repeat himself. “I am challenging myself. Repeating is a dead end and stunts growth. I haven’t taken a comfortable path but preferred the difficult and challenging one. This is what makes the journey of Raunaq & Jassi the most beautiful one that I’ve had in theatre,” he says as his voice ebbs and flows with emotion over the phone.
However, one can’t help but go back to the magnum opus. “People asked what will he do with Mughal-e-Azam that isn’t there already? Everyone thought it would be a disaster. They felt that I was being audacious and they believed that in saying so, they were being polite. I was engrossed in trying to save my reputation and protecting the reputation and legacy of K Asif so I completely switched off and concentrated on my work. I was thrown into the deep end and I had only two and a half months to put up the production. The Full Circle on Amazon Prime Video shows how people reacted before and after it was staged. The result was heartwarming,” he recalls.
Another of his popular production was Mahatma Vs Gandhi which was later made as a film Gandhi, My Father. While talking about the Mahatma in the less than favourable light can often be seen now, portraying him as a human being with flaws in popular culture was unheard of in 1998 when the play was staged. “What I had written was within the realm of facts. Gandhi was his own strongest critic, which comes through in his letters, articles and autobiography. But this didn’t stop two play sponsors from backing out because there was an article which said that it was anti-Gandhi. I had the Mahatma’s entire family on board for it as were humanising him and Harilal, his son,” he says and adds, “Neither the film nor the play takes sides. The family knew I was speaking the truth and at the same time ensuring the idea of Gandhi was never damaged.”
However, he points out that popular culture today is going in a different direction. “To destroy the idea of Gandhi or to damage it are wrong. When you are going to celebrate (Nathuram) Godse, the killer of Mahatma Gandhi, then we understand where the discourse is going,” he says about a line that many of the sections of the right-wing organisations in the country have taken.
When one laments that Feroz didn’t direct more films after Gandhi, My Father, he suggests that one should watch Dekh Tamasha Dekh, which, “despite being a terrific piece of social and political satire got lost. It is relevant today,” he says but does acquiesce that he should make more films even though theatre is the place where he actually belongs.
Having dabbled in both the media, he points out that cinema is realistic where abstraction is difficult to capture. “Theatre has the power of suggestion. In cinema, the camera can take you wherever the imagination goes or wherever I can, physically. In theatre, stage is a restriction but there is none on imagination. The great advantage of cinema is its reach. Gandhi, My Father has been screened as an accompaniment to Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi in the US, for instance. The other advantage is that films remain the same forever. Madhubalaji (in Mughal-e-Azam) looks the same even now,” he says wistfully and prefers to close the argument with, “Not all subjects can be made in cinema and not all can be adapted to theatre. The subject, language and grammar of both are different. Each has to be treated in a completely different way.”
Feroz hit big time in 1992 with Tumhari Amrita, a story of unrequitted love which had actors Shabana Azmi and Farooq Sheikh take to the stage. With the latter having passed away in 2013, Feroz has now come to terms with reviving it. “It will be completely new as Shabana has said she cannot do it without Farooq. She prodded me to do this as it is a great piece of work and the audience cannot be deprived of its power, beauty and grace,” says the director who started his career as an actor.
Salesman Ramlal, one of the first plays that he adapted from the English Death of a Salesman is his favourite work. “It affects me deeply and I would never have done it if I couldn’t adapt it to the Indian context. Theatre needs it as it is immediate and present. It is the most alive and powerful experience. I need to contextualise the place where I am living, the air that I breathe, the social and political conditions. If I can’t relate to it, how will the audience?” he questions.
Another of his works, Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hun, a show on family planning, gender and women empowerment on Doordarshan has become a global study on how effectively you can use entertainment to propagate a message. It has been dubbed in 12 languages.
With the advent of digital, entertainment is increasingly becoming insular. How would that affect theatre? “You can put a film in your pocket and carry it around but to see a play you have to take that walk from your house to the theatre seat. People want to see live human beings. How much can you see on a TV or laptop? That is why world over, live performances are getting more audience as footfall is increasing.”
So, yes, as the director pointed out at the start, there is a context and time for everything.
