A bunch of theatre enthusiasts got together to present a centre stage play, ‘Mere Abba Mughal -e- Azam’ under the production group, ‘BeTaal’ at the School of Communication(SOC) auditorium on March 1.
The play was scripted and directed by Abhinav Grover, a former student of Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) and founder of the theatre group BeTaal.
The audience was welcomed into the world of Abbajaan and his family with classic Hindi music from the 1960’s playing in the background, setting the ambience for the play. Set in the 60’s, the play focused on the life of a Muslim family comprising of a conservative father, his three daughters and a 10-year old son named Yusuf.
Their love for Dilip Kumar is much to the chagrin of their father, who considers their obsession for cinema to be against his Mughal lineage. Since the sisters aren’t allowed to go to the cinema themselves, they send their younger brother Yusuf to watch movies and he, in turn, narrates the plot to them.
Despite being reprimanded for his frequent visits to the cinema, in the climax, one sees Yusuf drawing parallels between the film’s storyline and his own family while watching Dilip Kumar’s film ‘Mughal-e- Azam’.
The play’s director, Abhinav Grover said, ” This play is inspired by the life of an Iranian director and I wanted to show the irony of his life with context to an Indian setup.” The same play has been performed thrice previously, twice in IIM-Kozhikode and once at the MIT Library Auditorium.
Venumadhav Bhat, administrator for BeTaal said, “We are a private entity and do not belong to any college. Performing theatre is our hobby. If one has a passion for theatre, one can join us, irrespective of age.”