Rumi’s poetry recited by Tom Alter and Zia Nath’s dancing act made for a scintillating evening, says Saurav Kar
A sufi mystic and a whirling dervish are two sides of the same coin. And when the mystic happens to be Rumi whose poetry is recited by actor Tom Alter and the dervish, Zia Nath the audience is sure to turn up in droves. Not just Rumi, but Tantra Sutras by Shiva, the supreme Hindu god, were also recited at a recent evening which thus brought two opposites on one platform through the medium of art on the common topic of love.
The program was organised by Young FICCI ladies Organisation (YFlO) where women entrepreneurs and social advocates of the city were present. Nath portrayed Rumi’s iconic whirl of about 36 hours, through her musical performance .
Alter says that there is a lot happening in the world of arts and theatre, just that we do not hear about it. He shares, “I probably do 10 shows a month in languages, varying from Hindi, Urdu, English, and people love my multi-lingual avatar. I can’t define how it is looked upon but according to me, there are a lot of people who love theatre deeply. We don’t hear about it so much because when a film gets popular, everybody prefers to go for it unlike theater. Needless to say, it goes unnoticed.”
Despite having played the quintessential Britisher in many Bollywood movies, Alter has delved deeply into Urdu culture and poetry for a very long time. He says there is a reason for this influence. He says, “I was born and raised in Mussoorie in the 1950s and that time Urdu was a very common language. So for me taking interest in the language is not unusual, everybody used the language in that era.”
Alter is one of the eminent figures in both theatre and poetry. He has portrayed roles as diverse as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Mirza Ghalib and Mahatma Gandhi on the stage. He says that it is the joy, pleasure and excitement of doing any task in life that attracts a person to it. “This is the sole reason I do theatre,” he says.
The chemistry on stage between Alter and Zia Nath was incomparable.The theatre erupted in excitement at the surprise element where Alter joined Zia on stage in the dance performance.
Having played a variety of characters, some of whom are well-known historical figures, Alter says there is a method to undertaking each. “One cannot talk exactly like Gandhi or Ghalib. We need to put ourselves in their shoes like Tom Alter is Ghalib. This way it becomes simple,” he says.
Alter’s vies on poetry are in consonance with Rumi when he quotes the mystic,“Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you.”Alter also added that “There is not a single definition of poetry but what we think, feel and put into word”. It was a delightful evening for the lovers of Rumi.