In the 150th birth year commemoration of Mahatma and Kasturba Gandhi by UNESCO and the Government of India, Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation presents its new heritage theatre production Kasturba which will be exclusively held at Radisson Blu Pune (Hinjawadi) today.
Set in Pune’s Aga Khan Palace where Mahatma Gandhi and Ba (as Kasturba was known) were confined, the play is an emotional and dramatic account of two years of captivity of the world’s most iconic couple. Ba later passed away in confinement.
Talking to the Padma Shri recipient director and theatre revivalist Baig, we find out more about the lady behind Gandhi.
Kasturba is in true tradition of Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation’s globally-celebrated Heritage Theatre. It is written by R K Paliwal, Director-General of the Department of Income Tax while Baig himself has designed and directed it.
He explains that the play is set in the crucial years of India’s freedom movement. “When people talk about the freedom movement, what comes to their mind is the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, but very little focus and thought is given to the lady behind him, his wife,” says Baig. He adds that the play highlights the contributions and struggles of the largely unsung yet spirited Kasturba.
According to Baig, while directing the play, he really understood the persona that Kasturba was. “She was way ahead of her time. She landed up in jail several times and yet fought back because she believed in the need for independence and what it meant for the country,” says Baig.
He points out that Ba was a woman who loved details and would take care of everyone, be it her own relatives or the people coming to the Gandhi ashrams. “She was so much involved in people’s life that she exactly knew details like who liked their coffee with milk and who did not. She never treated people like outsiders but like her own,” says Baig.
When asked if he feels any pressure since the play is now being staged in the city where Kasturba once lived, Baig says that when it comes to theatre that focuses on history, every play is pressurising. “There are facts that cannot be tampered, the dialogue, the costume and even the casting have to be in sync with one another since it is a part of history that is being brought to centre stage. As a director, one doesn’t have a lot of freedom. Plus one has to keep the audience entertained, it is not like a History class after all,” says Baig.
The director feels though Kasturba is from a time different than now, the play has a contemporary lesson for everyone. “With the important events being highlighted in the play, the other layer of the play shows us a woman who is juggling between work and personal life. This balance that she maintains even while she is busy fighting for independence, teaches all of us that every human being needs to have dedication and love towards work,” adds Baig.
Featuring an ensemble cast of Hyderabad’s finest talent, with the Foundation’s veterans Rashmi Seth in the role of Kasturba and Vijay Prasad as Mahatma Gandhi, the play in Hindustani takes the audience to the period between 1942 and 1944, post the Quit India Movement. Along with the Foundation’s regulars S A Majeed, Madhu Swaminath and Anwar Ali, the play features new talents Rajiv Kumar, Snigdha Bawa, and Naimatullah Baig.
Kasturba follows the Foundation’s globally-acclaimed productions Quli: Dilon ka Shahzaada, Savaan-e-Hayat, 1857: Turrebaz Khan, Spaces, Under an Oak Tree, among others. Baig’s previous four plays have had successive UK premieres and at prestigious festivals across India, Canada, France, Singapore, Turkey, USA, UAE, including a week-long run at Edinburgh and at the University of Oxford.
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Kasturba will be staged on October 19 at 7.30 pm at Radisson Blu Pune (Hinjawadi).
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