It is for the first time in the history of Indian Cinemathat a theatre production called Dada Saheb: A Journey… A Quest conceived anddirected by Mohammad Ali Baig, produced by his mother Begum Razia Baig and starringMohammad Ali Baig and Lilette Dubey, playing Dada Saheb and his second wifeSaraswati respectively, will be screened before the film Raja Harischandra.According to M S Sathyu who has designedthe project, it is a dialogue between Phalke and his wife that unravels thejourney of the father of Indian Cinema.
Mohammad Ali Baig stated that the production had a completeblack and white theme on stage to recreate the black and white silent film eraand the sets, flooring, furniture, props and costumes are all in black andwhite. Though Dadasaheb’s great grand-niece Sharayu Phalke Summanwar hadwritten the book on his life and suggested a dialogue like theatre piece inHindi, Mohammad Ali Baig felt that an English version would cater to the hugeglobal audience at IFFI in Goa.
Lilette Dubey, the noted theatre and film actress revealedthat it was a simple and dramatised reading of the book, which sets out to givea glimpse into Dada Saheb’s relationship with his second wife. Lilettereiterated that it was not a performance at all and hence she did not need toprepare for her part or get into the skin of her character. “Theatre in Indiaisn’t dying and it is because of the apathy of the media, which does not devotespace to theatre, that awareness of theatre movement is hardly there in peopletoday.”
Lilette lamented that when she did a Vijay Tendulkar playrecently in Mumbai, a section of the youth came to her backstage and asked herwhether Vijay Tendulkar was the uncle of Sachin Tendulkar.
The noted director M S Sathyu who has designed most ofMohammad Ali Baig’s plays has designed Dada Saheb: A Journey... A Quest too,said that though it has a running time of 25 minutes now, Baig is planning toincrease the duration of the play and take it around the country shortly. “Theplay is as much a tribute to Dada Saheb as it is to his wife Saraswati who didnot seek any credit that too in the early 1900’s and encouraged her husbandwholeheartedly in his pursuit for making films.
