An Evening with Ghalib

A visit to the crumbling haveli of poet Mirza Ghalib in Old Delhi in 1997 had filled Kathak dancer Uma Sharma with deep regret. For a poet who is integral to the country’s literary mindscape,the condition of his house was pitiable. It was then that Sharma set up the Ghalib Memorial Movement (GMM),an initiative to revive the poet’s legacy. Over the years,GMM has added memorabilia to the haveli and helped put it on the city’s tourist map.

On Friday,a short film titled Yadgar-E Ghalib took the audience at India Islamic Centre through a journey into the beginnings and workings of GMM and Ghalib’s relevance in the modern world. The screening was a part of a function to mark his 144th death anniversary.

The screening of the film — which contains recitations of Ghalib’s couplets by Kaifi Azmi,AN Sardar Jafri and Javed Akhtar among others — was followed by a dance performance by Sharma and her group. Author Pawan Verma recited Hindi translations of Ghalib’s poetry and ghazals and read from his book Ghalib — The Man,The Times,as a preamble to the dance sequences. Through intricate movements,the dancers depicted subjects such as respect towards all religions and the court rivalry between Ghalib and Zauk. The evening ended with Ustad Moin Khan performing a series of ghazals.