Kissa corruption ka

Jee Huzoor is a brilliant Indian adaptation by director Sai Paranjpye in 1974 of original ‘Government Inspector’ written by Nicolai Gogol, which was premiered on March 19, 1836 in Imperial Theatre, USA. It is based on a real story. In India, it was first premiered in Delhi in 1974 and after 33 years it will be staging in Hyderabad.

Speaking with The Hans India, director Subhash Gupta shared his tryst with theatre, “I am from Delhi and I am in Hyderabad since 12-years. I began my acting career in 1967, and acted in many stage plays directed by Sai Paranjpye. I played ‘Babna’ character in the play ‘Jaat Hi Puchho Sadhu Ki’ directed by Rajinder Nath and was staged 175 times across India. I acted in more than 500 shows and 70 plays besides numerous TV plays and serials.” He was also honoured by Delhi Natya Sangh in 1988 for his contribution to meaningful theatre.

‘Jee Huzoor’ is a brilliant adaptation done in early 70’s which is as contemporary as it was the century ago, says Subhash. “Unfortunately, the play was not performed in India. Considering the theatre scene in Hyderabad, we thought that ‘Jee Huzoor’ would be of immense interest and enjoyable for audiences of all ages and will be helpful in attracting fresh audiences to the theatre.

The play will depict corruption rooted deep, everywhere in society, governing bodies and bureaucracy from top to bottom through humorous situations providing entertainment. Duration of the play is 90-minutes” “I purposely chose ‘Jee Huzoor’ as my first directorial play for the reason that the play was last staged in 1984 and it's a fabulous contemporary comedy,” he adds.

Commenting on the theatre scene in the city, he observes, “Mostly comedies or monologues of short durations requiring small cast are being performed here. Few groups like Sutradhar, Rangdhara have performed plays of varied themes and genre.

Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation under Mohammad Ali Baig does mostly period plays related to the history of Hyderabad but has contributed immensely to theatre scene by organising annual theatre festival for over a decade now, and exposed Hyderabadis to the finest theatre happening in India and abroad.”“We plan to stage socially relevant plays written by famous play writers like Vijay Tendulkar, Mani Madhukar, Debasis Mazumdar and Manoj Mitra,” he concludes.

By Heena Mishra