Gulzar heads to Dubai

Theatre veteran Salim Arif will share the stage with Gulzar

There’s good newsfor theatre lovers, come January the Gulzar Theatre Fiesta is taking off at Centerpoint Theatre, Ductac, Mall of the Emirates.

Part of the DSF Calendar Event 2015, three of Gulzar’s literary creations will be performed on January 15,16 and 17. On the final day the maestro himself will come on stage and share his experience that defined his creative quest and his poetic persona with theatre veteran Salim Arif. Actors like Atul Kulkani, Yashpal Sharma, Lubna Salim, Vrajesh Hirjee and many others will be part of this festival. Here’s an overview of the plays that will be staged.

KHARAASHEIN: A collage of Gulzar’s literary creations and poetry, Hilsa, the first story is about the middle-class attitude in a riot-torn city. Raavi-Paar is a story set against the backdrop of partition revealing our inability to learn from our past. Khauff, is about fear and what it can do to the psyche of a normal man in anxiety. Khuda-Haafiz deals with a relationship, which evolves under duress during a riot-inflicted situation.
January 15, 7pm

SUNTE HO: Gulzar’s dramatisation of Rabindranath’s short story Streer Patro and his own story Mard are presented together as a reflection on the status of women and how men through the ages have treated them.
January 16, 7pm

ARRE O HENRY: Equally popular for their humour as well as their startling ends, Gulzar distills the very essence of O Henry’s creations through the adaptation of the quartet of comic plays; Shadi Kara Lo, Nuskha, Madam and Baal Baal Bache. The plays have been adapted by Gulzar to local culture and are rooted to the soil.
January 17, 4pm

RUBARU (Face to Face): This tete-a-tete session has answers to many questions that have been in the minds of the audience. Gulzar, reciting a selection from his vast repertoire of poems, follows the interaction.
January 17, 8pm