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Soon, a play on MF Husain

Very soon, there will reportedly be a play to bring back MF Husain.

New Delhi: One recent rainy evening in Delhi, a group of writers, activists, theatre activists and well-wishers gathered together in a city hotel to support a movement to bring back exiled painter Maqbool Fida Husain. The event was marked by the launch of an electronic book based on text by the painter and illustrated with his paintings that have been converted into animation.
A theatrical presentation - `MF Husain- Untitled` based on the exerpts from the e-book of the same name, incorporating little known details of the 94-year-old artist, was enacted on a stage that had a plain white canvas as backdrop. Directed by Tanveer Akthar with music by Sitaram Singh, the pivot of the short play is Husain`s 41 page e-text autobiography published by Kamna Prasad, editor-publisher Jiya Prakashan. "We had earlier staged a play adapted from his autobiography, `MF Husain ki Kahani Apni Zubani` in Patna. This time it was different. We tried to read the emotion behind the text written by Husain," Akthar told reporters after the performance. The cast of the play included students from National School of Drama (NSD) and the Indian Peoples` Theatre Association (IPTA). The drama weaves through the life of Maqbool who lost his mother when he was an eightenn month old baby and who grew up playing in the gullies of Indore and did his studies in Baroda. Husain`s storytelling reminisces about the boy Maqbool who is often found reminding the artist about things past and future. The drama interweaves versions by both of them. Also certain parts of the drama has a narrator unravelling the story of the artist. "It is a challenge for the actor to capture the interest of the audience without a story. We have attempted not to show any drama but capture the texture of the drama. We have also tried to use the same props that is used as part of the text in his ebook. We have used the flute, saris, the lantern, the wooden brushes,etc" says Akthar. The book reading in the theatrical form ends with the entire cast and crew leaving a literal impression on a blank canvas. "At the end of the play, all of us individually dip our hands in the pot of paint and mark the canvas with handprints. This is to represent our personal impression that a painter`s journey should not be stopped anywhere and must keep on traveling," says the director. Akthar says the theatrical presentation may in the coming months be staged elsewhere in the country too. Bureau Report