Watching a 70-year-old woman cleverly spin tales of her glittering past to generate a seemingly endless curiosity never gets old — playwright Javed Siddiqui’s original play Begum Jaan wows the audience yet again, with a skillfully written script, riveting performances and impeccable dialogues. Directed by Anjum Ayaz, the much-appreciated play was restaged at the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) theatre on Wednesday night, with the same zeal and zest.
Begum Jaan is a story about an old woman (Nimra Bucha), who was once a reputed classical singer having associations with senior dignitaries like Maulana Abulkalam Azad, Majaz and Nawab of Bhopal and Jawaharlal Nehru amongst others, but now lives a rather reclusive life with her grand-daughter, Zareena (Naila Jaaferi). While they live a low-profile life, journalist Sanjay Pandey (Paras Masroor) shows up at their door step as a professor in search of a room. His agenda though lies in revealing the secret past of Begum Jaan and getting his breakthrough in journalism. As clever as a fox, Begum Jaan immediately recognises the young lad’s real identity. She is aware that Pandey’s main purpose is to make a story out her life and her relationships.
However, the play takes an interesting turn when Begum Jaan tries to convince him to marry her grand-daughter in return for a bunch of unseen letters given to her by Maulana Azad — clearly a huge scoop for Pandey.
Director Ayaz brilliantly executes the well-crafted script by Siddiqui. The dialogues include a lot of metaphors, which are powerful yet at the same time, witty. The construction is such that the audience stays glued to their seats until the end of this weave of tell-tales is revealed. The play is a satire which cleverly but subtly depicts the reality of our society’s values in Begum Jaan’s experience of the past and the present.
Another great aspect of this play is its cast — all act diligently and delve completely into the characters, making them appear real. Nimra Bucha, who has previously exhibited her talent in plays such as Seagull and The Dictator’s Wife, is par excellence as Begum Jaan. Her hard work shows as she delivers her dialogues in Lucknawi Urdu and takes the audience to a completely different era.
Naila Jaaferi, who is a usual on the theatre front, delivers a stellar performance as Begum Jaan’s only caregiver with dreams of her own. However, she appears a bit over-excited in some places during the course of her acting making the character look more or less superficial. While Ali Sheikh was praiseworthy in the previous version of Begum Jaan, Paras Masroor can safely be said a better replacement. However, as the confident and determined young journalist, he seems a bit shaky in a few places.
Fitting in well symbolically with the plot and description of the play, the set resembled an old ‘haveli’ emphasised with dim lighting — creating the perfect environment of a bygone era. The props used were very much-needed to bring out the real essence of the play and the stage movement was also in the flow that it needed to be in.
Starting another season of plays and musical events with the re-staging of Begum Jaan, surely makes the future look promising. The play will run Thursday through Sunday till September 22 at 8pm and the tickets are priced at Rs600.
The Express Tribune is the official media partner for this play.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2013.
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