Ebrahim Alkazi
Ebrahim Alkazi

Author: Amal Allana

Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited

Published: 2024-03-11

Total Pages: 836

ISBN-13: 9357085246

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Amal Allana’s compelling biography of her father is the first carefully researched, full-length account of the life, work and times of Ebrahim Alkazi, one of the giants of twentieth-century theatre and a key promoter of the visual arts movement in India. Evoking the excitement of Alkazi’s student years in England, the controversies that surrounded his provocative ideas to transform the theatre movement in Bombay and later in Delhi, as the director of the National School of Drama (NSD), this book charts Alkazi’s meteoric rise to the top, with his modernist staging of plays and his aim of putting Hindi theatre on the map. It was at the Sangeet Natak Akademi that Alkazi first confronted resistance to his ideas on the role of tradition in the making of a new ‘national’ culture. By the 1970s, disillusioned with the curtailing of civil liberties and a dysfunctional bureaucracy, he ultimately resigned from the NSD, developing his own independent institutions for the promotion of the visual arts in India as well as abroad. Staging the cultural history of India between the 1940s and 2000s, and featuring a galaxy of artists and actors as the dramatis personae—including M.F. Husain, F.N. Souza, Akbar Padamsee, Gieve Patel, Nissim Ezekiel, Alyque Padamsee, Girish Karnad, Manohar Singh, Vijaya Mehta, Kusum Haidar and Gerson da Cunha—Allana’s chronicle is charged with their fierce energy and commitment as contributors to a vibrant new India. The author’s personal perspective as Alkazi’s daughter brings to the narrative an added dimension of veracity and sensitivity. With objective candour, Allana shares details of her parents’ relationship as they examine their marriage on entirely new terms, as a partnership of equals. Holding Time Captive shows a dynamic Alkazi in his quest to bring about an inclusive, international, intercultural and interdisciplinary thinking in artistic expressions that is transformative and liberating. This book offers unique glimpses into an enigmatic personality whose emotionally charged life closely reflected and ran parallel to the growth and evolution of his startlingly fresh ideas and vision for a modern cultural movement in India.

Ebrahim Alkazi
Ebrahim Alkazi

Author: Parul Dave Mukherji

Publisher: Mapin Publishing Pvt

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781935677680

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A doyen of India?s art and theatre scenes, Ebrahim Alkazi has been credited with garnering worldwide visibility for Indian art. 'Directing Art', with nearly 400 images, explores how his unique way of locating Indian art within a broader framework led to several formal engagements for artists such as MF Husain, FN Souza, SH Raza, Gieve Patel, and Anish Kapoor, among others.

Enter Stage Right
Enter Stage Right

Author: Feisal Alkazi

Publisher: Speaking Tiger Books

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9789390477074

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Description Bombay, 1943. The young Parsi actress who was playing Salome in the newly founded Theatre Group's production of Oscar Wilde's eponymously titled play drew the line at performing the Dance of the Seven Veils, a sort of 'Biblical striptease'. So director Sultan Padamsee's 19-year-old sister Roshen stepped in. And met the handsome, intense Arab who played the male lead-Ebrahim Alkazi. In 1946, they were married. Thus was forged one of the greatest alliances in the world of theatre and art in post- Independence India. Ebrahim Alkazi took English theatre from its early beginnings in Bombay to national and even international acclaim as he directed and acted in more than a hundred plays, ranging from Oedipus Rex, Murder in the Cathedral and Macbeth in the 1950s, to Ashadh Ka Ek Din, Andha Yug and Tughlaq in the '60s and '70s. As director of the fabled National School of Drama from 1962 to 1977, he launched some of the finest actors of our times, including Om Shivpuri, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Rohini Hattangadi, Manohar Singh and Uttara Baokar. Chief costume designer and seamstress for all his productions was Roshen Alkazi. In 1977, when Ebrahim and Roshen decided to open Art Heritage in Delhi, it gave a new dimension to the world of art, as the leading artists of the day, including M.F. Husain, Krishen Khanna, F.N. Souza, Tyeb Mehta, K.G. Subramanyam and Laxma Goud, flocked to this space that was not just a 'commercial' gallery, but a foundation for documenting and preserving the arts. With more than 50 rare photographs, Enter Stage Right is the story of theatre in India as it has never been told before...to be treasured by theatre buffs, and savoured by anyone who loves a good story.

A Princely Impostor?
A Princely Impostor?

Author: Partha Chatterjee

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-09-01

Total Pages: 450

ISBN-13: 0691218315

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In 1921 a traveling religious man appeared in eastern British Bengal. Soon residents began to identify this half-naked and ash-smeared sannyasi as none other than the Second Kumar of Bhawal--a man believed to have died twelve years earlier, at the age of twenty-six. So began one of the most extraordinary legal cases in Indian history. The case would rivet popular attention for several decades as it unwound in courts from Dhaka and Calcutta to London. This narrative history tells an incredible story replete with courtroom drama, sexual debauchery, family intrigue, and squandered wealth. With a novelist's eye for interesting detail, Partha Chatterjee sifts through evidence found in official archives, popular songs, and backstreet Bangladeshi bookshops. He evaluates the case of the man claiming, with the support of legions of tenants and relatives, to be the long-lost Kumar. And he considers the position of the sannyasi's detractors, including the colonial government and the Kumar's young widow, who resolutely refused to meet the man she denounced as an impostor. Along the way, Chatterjee introduces us to a fascinating range of human character, gleans insights into the nature of human identity, and examines the relation between scientific evidence, legal truth, and cultural practice. The story he tells unfolds alongside decades of Indian history. Its plot is shaped by changing gender and class relations and punctuated by critical historical events, including the onset of World War II, the Bengal famine of 1943, and the Great Calcutta Killings. And by identifying the earliest erosion of colonialism and the growth of nationalist thinking within the organs of colonial power, Chatterjee also gives us a secret history of Indian nationalism.

Brecht in India
Brecht in India

Author: Dr. Prateek

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-12

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 1000222470

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Brecht in India analyses the dramaturgy and theatrical practices of the German playwright Bertolt Brecht in post-independence India. The book explores how post-independence Indian drama is an instance of a cultural palimpsest, a site celebrating a dialogue between Western and Indian theatrical traditions, rather than a homogenous and isolated canon. Analysing the dissemination of a selection of Brecht’s plays in the Hindi belt between the 1960s and the 1990s, this study demonstrates that Brecht’s work provided aesthetic and ideological paradigms to modern Hindi playwrights, helping them develop and stage a national identity. The book also traces how the reception of Brecht was mediated in India, how it helped post-independence Indian playwrights formulate a political theatre, and how the dissemination of Brechtian aesthetics in India addressed the anxiety related to the stasis in Brechtian theatre in Europe. Tracking the dialogue between Brechtian aesthetics in India and Europe and a history of deliberate cultural resistance, Brecht in India is an invaluable resource for academics and students of theatre studies and theatre historiography, as well as scholars of post-colonial history and literature.

Das Brecht-Jahrbuch
Das Brecht-Jahrbuch

Author: Tom Kuhn

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 0985195657

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The leading publication on Brecht, his work, and topics of interest to him; this annual volume documents the International Brecht Society's 2016 symposium, "Recycling Brecht." Published for the International Brecht Society by Camden House, the Brecht Yearbook is the central scholarly forum for discussion of Brecht's life and work and of topics of particular interest to him, especially the politics of literature and of theater in a global context. It includes a wide variety of perspectives and approaches, and, like Brecht himself, is committed to the concept of the use value of literature, theater, and theory. Volume42 features a selection of the papers given and protocols of the events held at the International Brecht Society's "Recycling Brecht" symposium at St. Hugh's College, Oxford, in June 2016. The theme of recycling is understood bothas a description of Brecht's own creative practice and as an activity applied to his works by others. The volume includes keynote papers by Hans-Thies Lehmann and Amal Allana on Brecht's reception of Antigone and on the reception and recycling of Brecht in India, respectively. Other papers are on a wide range of topics, from Brecht's own "recycling" of Shakespeare and others, through the reception of his own works in a range of contexts and by later writers, to contemporary works that may be understood as post-Brechtian. The final section, introduced by an extended interview with American playwright Tony Kushner, documents additional creative responses to the theme. Volume co-editors Tom Kuhn and David Barnett are, respectively, Professor of Twentieth-Century German Literature at the University of Oxford and Professor of Theatre at the University of York. Managing Editor Theodore F. Rippey is Associate Professor of German at Bowling Green State University.

Om Puri: Unlikely Hero
Om Puri: Unlikely Hero

Author: Nandita C. Puri

Publisher: Roli Books Private Limited

Published: 2009-11-01

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 9351940756

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Unlikely Hero offers an exclusive glimpse into Om Puri's private life, his struggles and anxieties, and the woes of his heart. Discover the Om Puri no one knows about - the tongue-tied actor from Punjab with stars in his eyes; the incorrigible flirt in drama school; the connoisseur of food and expert cook; and the complete family man. Featuring amusing anecdotes with his family, shocking episodes with the stalwarts of Indian and British cinema, and the nail-biting suspense of his love life, the tale is complemented by rare and unusual photographs. Told with wit, honesty, and elan, this book is a fitting tribute to the inspirational tale of Om Puri - one of the most talented actors of India. The late Patrick Swayze, Om Puri's co-actor in City of Joy, recounts the impact Om had on his life, while notable film critic Derek Malcolm talks about Om's immense talent and vast repertoire. Naseeruddin Shah fondly remembers his friendship with Om that began at the National School of Drama and Om's rise in the national and international film industry.

Theatres of Independence
Theatres of Independence

Author: Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker

Publisher: University of Iowa Press

Published: 2009-11

Total Pages: 505

ISBN-13: 158729642X

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Theatres of Independence is the first comprehensive study of drama, theatre, and urban performance in post-independence India. Combining theatre history with theoretical analysis and literary interpretation, Aparna Dharwadker examines the unprecedented conditions for writing and performance that the experience of new nationhood created in a dozen major Indian languages and offers detailed discussions of the major plays, playwrights, directors, dramatic genres, and theories of drama that have made the contemporary Indian stage a vital part of postcolonial and world theatre.The first part of Dharwadker's study deals with the new dramatic canon that emerged after 1950 and the variety of ways in which plays are written, produced, translated, circulated, and received in a multi-lingual national culture. The second part traces the formation of significant postcolonial dramatic genres from their origins in myth, history, folk narrative, sociopolitical experience, and the intertextual connections between Indian, European, British, and American drama. The book's ten appendixes collect extensive documentation of the work of leading playwrights and directors, as well as a record of the contemporary multilingual performance histories of major Indian, Western, and non-Western plays from all periods and genres. Treating drama and theatre as strategically interrelated activities, the study makes post-independence Indian theatre visible as a multifaceted critical subject to scholars of modern drama, comparative theatre, theatre history, and the new national and postcolonial literatures.