Actress Neha Sargam, who plays Anarkali in director Feroz Abbas Khan’s Mughal-E-Azam, tells Chahak Mittal that women have always retaliated, no matter the end result or the era that they come from
When one talks of grandeur of epic proportions in the Hindi film industry, the name Mughal-E-Azam cannot fail to make an appearance. The 1960 film chronicling the love story of Prince Salim and a court dancer, Anarkali, is remembered for the seemingly-real sheesh mahal (palace of mirrors), the offscreen romance which had turned sour between the lead pair of Dilip Kumar and Madhubala, iconic dialogues and more. The film’s commentary on the reality of a society ridden with taboos and hierarchical differences continues to cast a spell and fascinate the current audience even today.
Director Feroz Abbas Khan adapted it to stage and the Broadway-style musical has got such a rousing response that it has made a comeback. Actress Neha Sargam, who essays the role of Anarkali says, “The script was modified according to the current context, especially in terms of women and personal relationships.”
She believes that every era has had its own share of challenges and revelations. “There have been different set of challenges for both men and women in each era. However, there are certain things which continue to be common and have only evolved. For instance, even though the restrictions on women have been abundant, yet they have always tried to get up and create their own space, irrespective of the era. In the play, driven by social norms of gender and hierarchy, even though Anarkali looks like the victim, she does try in every possible way to take a stand. She stands up for herself in difficult times. It doesn’t matter whether she wins or not. In a way, she is a powerful woman,” she says. This Anarkali wouldn’t let her self-esteem be destroyed or taken for granted.
This is the way, Neha believes, Anarkali’s character can connect with today’s and every generation’s woman who has always tried to retaliate, no matter the consequences or end result. “Our director has brought it out with a feminist approach, keeping in mind the woman of today’s era, who is ever-evolving,” says she.
The actress describes one of the scenes to highlight this aspect — where Salim tightly slaps Anarkali — “The scene was very regressive and according to the norms of the time, nobody questioned it. However, today, it means a lot. In the film, Dilip Kumar had actually slapped Madhubala hard. In the play, the script has been modified and now Salim doesn’t slap her, rather just pushes her away.” She says that such small gestures often influence the audience in a huge way which sometimes go unnoticed.
Talking about present relationships and parental acceptance, she says there is still a large population who might not happily accept the person their daughter or son brings home. She says, “The story highly resonates with the current youth, who still, to some extent, struggle to get their parents’ consents before marrying someone of their choice. Be it any criteria — caste, class or religious differences, homosexuality — parents do take these elements into account before giving their approval. They may have progressed but are not completely over it.”
She laughs and says that to show the audience what should have been done, one can’t change the plot. After all, “of course, Akbar won’t suddenly accept Anarkali instead of bricking her up in a wall. The story will always be the same.”
The actress, who has been a part of daily soaps since a long time now, says she feels fortunate to have bagged the role of Anarkali, since this is the first time she is doing theatre. Narrating the story, she says, “I had received a mail from Mukesh Chhabra Casting Company in June, last year. However, it somehow landed in the spam. Later, I received calls from the company for the same. They told me that they were trying to contact me since a long time as they were looking for a singer as well as an actor. So, in the play, I am singing, dancing and acting live. Initially, I was confused since I had never been a part of theatre before and always had stage fright.”
However, it turned out to be a great learning experience for her as she also had to practise and learn Urdu to rehearse the play’s dialogues.
She tells us that even though a play’s script has to be followed in a certain way, which is challenging, “the director wanted us to express ourselves and our characters in our own way. I should react the way I would react but with a touch of Anarkali’s style.”
Around 700 costumes were factored by designer Manish Malhotra for the play’s crew of 200-300 people. The play, she tells us, was not going to come back to the city after its first two seasons in September 2017 and February 2018, but is now back on popular demand. Starting from April 6, the play would mark its 175th show.