In 1914, when the rigid caste system was rife in India, the suicide of a young Brahmin girl sparked a literary shift among prominent Indian social writers of the time.
Her name was Snehlata, she lived in Calcutta (now Kolkata), and she died trying to save her parents from becoming indebted to her fiancé’s family under the dowry system.
Months later, the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore wrote several short stories, including Streer Patra (The Wife's Letter), highlighting the subjugation of women in a patriarchal society.
The Academy award-winning Indian poet and lyricist Gulzar, has spent much of his career translating the Bengali-language works of Tagore, which, he says, remain relevant today.
Sunte Ho, his translation of Tagore's Streer Patra, is one of the productions Gulzar brings to the three-day Gulzaar Theatre Fiesta at Dubai Community Theatre & Arts Centre in Dubai that begins on Thursday, January 15.
The writer – who along with composer A R Rahman won an Oscar and a Grammy for the song Jai Ho from the film Slumdog Millionaire – will also give a poetry reading and host a Q&A session.
The 80-year-old poet, whose thought-provoking literary contributions have won him many accolades, discusses his desire to make young people aware of Tagore’s legacy.
What are the challenges involved in adapting your short stories and poetry for stage?
Salim Arif, who has directed the plays that will be staged in Dubai, has been working in theatre for a long time and is a gold medalist from the National School of Drama. He found potential in these short stories of mine and we worked together to shape it for theatre. It’s like a new birth of these stories on stage. They aren’t just narratives anymore. The characters come alive in Salim’s modern theatrical approach, making these socially relevant short stories meaningful.
When you started your career in the 60s, who influenced you?
Writing is a process and you learn from several masters. But Urdu- and English-language poet and short-story author Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi is one of the masters I followed.
What influences your writing?
Living here [in India], you always react to the social and economic life here. Poetry is always about the environment of the society in which you live. My work relates to the subcontinent, but also looks at the rest of the world from different horizons.
What significance does Rabindranath Tagore’s work hold in your life?
He is a national poet of India and rightly so because his work is so vast and relevant. He has written poetry for adults and children, novels, drama and was a master in music. His music, Rabindra Sangeet, is a form in itself. I was quite influenced by his writing. I adapted Streer Patra, meaning wife's letters to her husband, because it spoke to me. It reflects the traditions of those times of oppression.
Tell us about your current project to translate his works.
I’m working on translating more of his work that will be published in the form of a book by publishers Rupa and Co. There will be two volumes, one for grown-ups, and young-age poetry written for children. The language will be Urdu, but it will be in the Indian Devanagari script.
Why is it important to expose a wider audience to his work?
I want his work to be spread all over the world. His writing is socially charged and has potential to influence. I want him to be taught the same way he is honoured and taught in Bengal. Other sections of Indian society must also be able to take benefit of that writing.
What can the audience expect from the three-day festival of your short stories?
The experience of drama is different altogether. So, they can expect an enlightening engagement, while listening to the poetry and watching it being enacted. They can expect good performances from actors such as Atul Kulkarni, Yashpal Sharma and Lubna Salim.
Are you working on composing songs for any films?
I’ll be writing for my daughter Meghna Gulzar’s film. She is a very socially conscious filmmaker herself. She is working with filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj on this.
• The Gulzaar Theatre Fiesta is at Centrepoint Theatre at Ductac, Mall of the Emirates, from Thursday, January 15. Tickets are Dh125 from www.platinumlist.ae. For more information, call 04 369 2128 or visit www.ductac.org/theatre.php
aahmed@thenational.ae
