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Review: ‘Moteram Ka Satyagrah’ is a delightful Hindi play which entertains the audiences beyond imagination

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Moteram Ka Satyagrah

Director: M. S. Sathyu
Writer & Adapter: Habib Tanveer & Safdar Hashmi
Assistant Director & Production-in-charge: Vikas Yadav
Music: Kuldeep Singh
Cast: Avinash Kumar, Paritosh Tiwari, Hempushpak Arora, Priya Sahdev, Anupam Kumar, Nishant Srivastava, Saumya Srivastav, Noman Khan, Vikas Yadav, Ishika Bachhan, Vaishnavi Fendor, Abhishek Srivastava, Kaamna Pathak, Rohit Chaudhary, Shankar Purohit, Sunraj Dev, Suresh Kumar, Ramesh Rajhans, Ravi Kumar, Aanjjan Srivastav, Nivedita Baunthiyal, Shakir Ali, Satyendra, Sunny Dixit et al.

The latest Hindi play ‘Moteram Ka Satyagrah’ is based on a story “Satyagraha” penned by Munshi Premchand, written & adapted by Habib Tanveer & Safdar Hashmi & above all directed by none other than extremely versatile director M. S. Sathyu.

This time around IPTA has offered tribute to Munshi Prem Chand one of the finest writers of Indian Subcontinent on his death anniversary by performing a play ‘Moteram Ka Satyagraha’ inspired from his own story on 8th & 9th Oct, 2015 at Prithvi Theatre, Juhu.

The play ‘Moteram Ka Satyagrah’ is a musical comic satire on governance directed by M. S. Sathyu, a National Award-winning director best known for his film ‘Garam Hawa or ‘Scorching Winds’.

Set in Benaras during the British rule the play ‘Moteram Ka Satyagrah’ highlighted the larger issues of relationship between Religion & Politics which are still relevant today.

The story is about a Brahmin from Benaras called Moteram who falls a prey to his greed. The story begins when the magistrate Sir William Parkinson got the news of a Viceroy visiting the town of Benaras that made him tense. He wishes to portray Benaras as a very smart & beautiful city and seek help from his 7 unintelligent Officers. The magistrate accepted all their suggestions which lead to a chaos in the city of Benaras. Angry by his decisions the people of Benaras decided to boycott the Viceroy’s visit and planned to declare Hartal. When the magistrate came to know about this he bribed Pandit Moteram to go on a hunger strike to control all the revolutionaries. Moteram blackmailed the people of Benaras on religious lines and tried convincing that the Bristish empire is for their good.

The play deals with whether or not Panditji succeeds in controlling his hunger? And to what extent the magistrate will go to save his position even at the cost of the people of Benaras.

The protagonist Pandit Moteram Shastri, a role enacted by Aanjjan Srivastav was undoubtedly the soul of the play. The audience was completely mesmerized by his performance. His dialogue delivery, facial expression, gestures and his looks set the stage on fire. On the other hand Nivedita Baunthiyal who played his wife supported the protagonist amazingly. She was completely into her character as a devoting wife. While Abhishek Srivastava who played Lord William Parkinson did complete justice to his character. He was stupendous and took the audience on a hilarious trip with his Hindi accent. Besides him all the characters of the play comprising of Avinash Kumar, Paritosh Tiwari, Hempushpak Arora, Priya Sahdev, Anupam Kumar, Nishant Srivastava, Saumya Srivastav, Noman Khan, Vikas Yadav, Ishika Bachhan, Vaishnavi Fendor, Kaamna Pathak, Rohit Chaudhary, Shankar Purohit, Sunraj Dev, Suresh Kumar, Ramesh Rajhans, Ravi Kumar, Shakir Ali, Satyendra, Sunny Dixit. et al complimented each other very well.

The team filled with enthusiasm & energy also lighted the stage. Costumes were done by director M. S. Sathyu himself. The costumes played an important part in the play and were selected very cautiously for reflecting the Benaras of the British rule. The costumes completed the look of every character helping the audience to understand the nature of each one’s role. They communicated the message accurately & realistically. Music Director Kuldeep Singh succeeded in expressing the characters emotions through live music and established a mood for the audiences watching the play. Lighting Department was also able to pull all the aspects on the stage and enhanced the beauty of each character & scenes. The stage was beautifully illuminated creating the right mood for the play. Assistant Director Vikas Yadav did a commendable job of bringing out the best both from debutantes & talented artists. Actually speaking the USP of the play was its huge cast and their coordination which was superb.

Director M. S. Sathyu’s vision was seen throughout the play. Truly M. S. Sathyu was the Captain of the Ship, a great director, art director & stage manager. Despite being a comical play it gave a very serious message of separating religion from politics.

The play ‘Moteram Ka Satyagraha’ beautifully portrays that religion & politics are 2 different worlds and when mixed together people’s rights are trampled upon leading to aggressive opposition amongst the masses. Though it is an old play but the problem of religion & politics still exists in our country and is hampering the growth of the people & the country. The play was not only entertaining but there was a message to take back home that is relevant even after so many years when Munshi Premchand wrote the story.

Nasheman.in interviews M S Sathyu

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M S Sathyu

Indian Cinema’s most acclaimed flimmaker Mysore Shrinivas Sathyu more popularly known as M. S. Sathyu hails from Mysore, Karnataka. Of late he has been chosen for the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowships for the year 2014 along with musicologist S. R. Janakiraman, classical singer Vijay Kichlu & musician Tulsidas Borkar. Present herewith is a telephonic conversation with him.

You & your films have bagged many Indian awards & International honours in your chequered career as a filmmaker. Would you feel free to throw some light on it?

Incidentally speaking I am known more as a leading Indian film director, stage designer & art director. And I am also best known for my most talked about directorial film ‘Garam Hawa’ (1973) which was based on the partition of India. Of late I have been chosen for the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi fellowships for the year 2014 along with prominent musicologist S. R. Janakiraman, classical singer Vijay Kichlu & musician Tulsidas Borkar. And I have been previously awarded Padma Shri in the year 1975. That apart my best known work, ‘Garam Hawa’ (Scorching Winds), is one of the last cinema productions featuring 1950s Marxist cultural activists including Balraj Sahni & Kaifi Azmi. In fact ‘Garam Hawa’ had won several Indian National awards in 1974, including a National Integration Award. It was also invited for the competitive section at Cannes and was also the Indian entry at the Oscars and achieved a Filmfare award for “Best Screenplay”.

Would you like to say something about your Sangeet Natak Academy Award?

What can I say about it? They just put me on the fellowship that’s it.

What are your current activities related to theatre?

I had stopped doing anything but now I am planning to start my new production named ‘Anarkali’ for National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA).

What do you feel about the Indian Theatre in terms of quality & progress?

Well! Frankly speaking a lot of things are happening in Indian & Overseas theatre and a lot of new directors & new talents are coming but then unfortunately we are solidly lacking in play writing arena.

You have worked as a director, art director, cinematographer & writer in films & theatre. How do you manage? And which department do you love the most?

Yes Indeed I have worked in different departments in theatre & films. I like doing that and besides I am not a trained person, I apprentice myself and learn on my own. And I like everything and much more I am also a designer which I enjoy doing quite a lot. I design costumes, sets, theatre spaces and also design lighting. I mean these are mainly my greatest interests.

Now please tell us something about your much hyped movie ‘Garam Hawa’. And how did you plan it?

Oh! Honestly speaking everything just happened. Some destined acts creating things that sometimes you end up making good films. I did not plan anything I just tried to make an honest film which become a classic on its own merits. So you see one doesn’t plan such things, they just happens.

Please share your experiences about working with Kaifi Aazmi during ‘Garam Hawa’.

He put in lots of things while writing the dialogues. He gave very political aspects of it and came out much better.

How did you get associated with Indian People’s Theatre Association?

I used to do a lot of work in Mumbai in various theatre groups and that’s how I came to be associated with Indian People’s Theatre Association. That’s it.

'Garm Hawa' – as timeless and relevant now as then

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The Mirza family of Garm Hawa, in 1973

The Mirza family of Garm Hawa, in 1973

by Subhash K. Jha

Very few Indian films have had the enduring impact of M S Sathyu’s “Garm Hawa”. This is the kind of rare cinema that serves the very core purpose of art. And now this tale of imperishable resonance comes to us in a restored digitally mastered avatar.

It stimulates the heart, stirs the soul, lifts the spirit and pricks the conscience. Dealing with Muslim pride and Islamic isolation during times of the stress and separation of the Partition, the relevance of “Garm Hawa” resonates to this day.

M S Sathyu’s “Garm Hawa” brought in furious winds of change in Hindi cinema and its approach and attitude to the theme of Muslim isolation in pre-Partition India. Though it is set in Agra just after the division of India into two separate countries, “Garm Hawa”, which re-released on Children’s Day Friday, doesn’t focus on the riots and bloodshed that followed the decisive moment in history.

Sathyu’s film, brilliantly written by Kaifi Azmi and Shama Zaidi, seeks to pin down the violence that the community experienced from within their own hearts and souls. That sense of agonised isolation when history seems to have betrayed a whole community and its people comes vividly alive in “Garm Hawa” as Salim Mirza (Balraj Sahni) watches his family torn apart as one by one they all leave, most of them across the border and a beloved daughter for the other world.

Heartbreak is a constant in the narration. But the sound of the broken heart is muffled in the aggressive voices of politicians and religious leaders seeking to establish their own self-interest in a nation that desperately needed selfless leaders in the post-Gandhian era.

“Garam Hawa” is as real as Indian cinema gets. The crowded mohallas and gallis of Agra are shot in documentary style. But the characters don’t seem to occupy that dispassionate space that documentaries are known to nurture.

We are without fuss taken into the world of Mirza’s family. We learn soon enough that Ameena (Geeta Siddharth) is the apple of Salim Mirza’s eyes. Co-writer Kaifi Azmi drew liberally from his own gentle and sensitive relationship with his daughter Shabana Azmi. And Balraj Sahni, that actor-extraordinaire who didn’t seem to be acting at all, drew from his own relationship with daughter Shabnam who, like Ameena in the film, committed suicide.

“Garm Hawa” is many things at the same time. It’s an evocative mirror of a people who chose to stay on when the land was divided. The film is also a love story. It is the intense tragic story of Ameena’s two aborted relationships, first with her cousin Kazim(Jamal Hashmi) , her childhood sweetheart who’s stolen away by Pakistan, and then her ardent suitor Shamshad(Jalal Agha) who leaves the country promising to return but never does. The second betrayal kills Ameena.

Finally , in a bizarre evocation of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There None”, Salim is left in India with only his wife and younger son, the rebellious Sikandar(Farouq Shaikh) who refuses to leave India for “greener pastures”(read: Pakistan).

The film ends on a note of heart-wrenching optimism when Salim Mirza changes his mind at the last minute about leaving the country.

Balraj Sahni as Salim Mirza gives what many film experts consider the one single-most flawless performance in the history of Hindi cinema. He gets into the skin of his character and inhabits the inner-most recesses of Salim Mirza’s soul. You really don’t see Balraj Sahni on the screen. You see this Muslim patriarch of a disintegrating family who never stops believing his God even when He seems busy elsewhere.

“Garm Hawa” is not just a cinematic experience. It is much more. It is a treatise on life’s most precious emotions. Unfiltered, raw and still hurting.

(IANS)

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