Hum tum do aisi ruhen hain jo tasqi paa na saki, Jeene ke jiye jaate hain magar, saanso mein chitayen jalti hain. Tassavuraat ki parchhayiyan ubharti hain. (We are two souls who could never find fulfillment. As for living, I continue to live but my breath burns with the cremated corpses of desires. Shadows surface in imagination) Abdul Hayee’s transformation into Sahir Ludhianvi happened some years before this “anti war document” surfaced in 1956. The lines from one of his most famous poems, Parchhaiyan (Shadows), describes, in great detail, the annihilation of love at the hands of war. “While we know Sahir's songs well and give him the status of one of the greatest lyricists of all times, there is another Sahir — the one who blends politics and political implications with poetry,” says playwright Suhail Akhtar Warsi, whose long sessions of poring over this Ludhianvi poem for years has resulted in a play of the same name. Was blending the two an artistic experiment by a poet who believed in being radical? It definitely was a clear departure from the kind of Urdu poetry written at that time; one that was without much social obligations. “He begins by talking about romance with a woman. But unlike any other love poetry, he makes it multidimensional, turning it political. It could easily be shallow,” says Warsi. Parchhaiyan, in its 90 minutes, will take the audiences through Ludhianvi's life — from a difficult childhood, using that melancholy to turn into a poet, to a tumultuous love life, being a part of the Progressive Writers Movement and his grand success as a lyricist in Bollywood — mostly with his poetry as the production’s narrative. As for playing Ludhianvi, Warsi has roped in veteran actor Tom Alter. “I was dealing with a character who was a poet, a freedom fighter, a colourful and enigmatic man, whose own life was shrouded in shadows. To play him, I needed someone who could read poetry and had a clear diction. Not many know that Tom even reads Urdu scripts in Urdu,” says Warsi, whose first choice for the role was actor Farooq Sheikh. Since Sheikh wasn’t comfortable with a lot of poetry, the role went to Alter. “The simplicity in his poetry is what made him people's poet. Here was a man who felt deeply about the nation’s situation. He is as relevant today as he was 60 years ago,” says Alter. The play will be a conversation between an older Sahir and a young Sahir. The reminisces of an older man will have reactions from his younger self, a reference to the moniker shared by the play and poem. The references to the women in his life — writer Amrita Pritam, singer Sudha Malhotra, “and some unknown others” will form a significant section of the play. “Amrita said a lot (in her autobiography), Sahir never did. It seemed apt to reference her and others as ‘she’. We wanted to retain the mystery of the man’s persona,” says Warsi. The play will be staged on October 19 at Fortune Select Excalibur, Sector 49, Gurgaon. Entry by reservation. Call 0124-398 8444
