Metro Plus
Chennai
Hyderabad
Romancing historical tales
|
The era of period films is in. While Akbar Khan is gung-ho about his magnum opus `Taj Mahal,' D.K. Goel of Hyderabad is romancing the legend of Quli Qutub Shah and Bhagmati in his feature film ` Hyder Mahal, The Legend of Bhagmati.' RADHIKA RAJAMANI goes down the historical lane.
|
AT A time when there is talk of history being scrapped or being written in a `distorted' fashion, the pages of history seem to come alive on celluloid, albeit in a dramatised way.
The trend of period cinema is slowly gaining ground in the commercial circuit. While Lagaan and Devdas have tasted success, the Bhagat Singhs did not make much headway though the version produced by the Devgans and directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi won some accolades in terms of authenticity and portrayals.
Historicals have been made earlier and were successful too. They seem to be `reinvented' now on the big screen.
Legends have found favour with auteurs and they spare no effort in detailing them as best as they can. Legends of Salim Anarkali, Baji Rao Mastani, Quli Qutub Shah Bhagmati or even Baz Bahadur Roopmati are as embedded in people's minds as Laila Majnu and Shireen Farhad.
While Akbar Khan's magnum opus Taj Mahal is in the news (for its grandeur and opulence), a feature film has been made by our own Hyderbadi around the popular legend of Quli Qutub Shah and Bhagmati.
It may not match with Taj Mahal in terms of lavishness, but Hyder Mahal, the Legend of Bhagmati, made by D.K. Goel, is important and unique in its own way - it is the first feature film on the romance of the king and dancer.
Both the historical feature films are made by people who are passionate about their subject - who have been steeped in the project - right from conception and have left no stone unturned in recreating the timeless tales.
The Taj Mahal as a monument of love has been ingrained in people's memory - the sheer testimony being the beautiful architectural masterpiece. On the contrary, the legend of Quli Qutub Shah and Bhagmati reverberates only within Hyderabad.
"Not many know of it up north. The subject has been haunting me since childhood. So I wanted to make a film on it," says D.K. Goel, who has grown up on this legend in this 400-year-old city.
It is purely the romance between the king (who swam the Musi river in spate to meet his beloved as the legend goes) and dancer, which attracted Goel.
"When I sat in Quli Qutub Shah's tomb I could feel the vibrations of their romance," says Goel, while writing the screenplay.
Of course adequate research was a prerequisite. "I went through whatever material was available - books, pamphlets, oral traditions," states the director, who conceptualised this project in 1996 and planned it in a systematic manner.
"This story was almost parallel to the period of Salim and Anarkali and just a few years before the Taj Mahal was built," he adds.
Fact, fiction and legend are seamlessly woven to recreate the historical era - an era of the medieval period replete in all its glory and splendour.
The Taj Mahal and Hyder Mahal may share the same last name but are totally different in look and feel. While both may profess to be faithful to the legend or history, there is no doubt that a certain amount of cinematic license would have been taken by the directors Khan and Goel in the dramatisation aspect.
An untiring passion certainly keeps them going. Hyder Mahal is complete (cleared by the censors) and is scheduled for release some time this year, while Taj Mahal is still being shot in various locales.
Comparisons are odious, but have nevertheless to be made. Akbar Khan is better known as the brother of Feroz and Sanjay.
D.K. Goel's cinematic background cannot be dismissed easily. He holds a PhD in cinema besides diplomas in direction and editing.
He worked in Filmalaya Academy of Arts and Television in Mumbai for a few years before becoming a newsreel cameraman for two years. His first breakthrough came in 1995 when he did the scripting, screenplay, lyrics and dialogues for some of Padmalaya Telefilms serials like Jai Veer Hanuman, Dattatreya, Jai Shree Ganesh.
He directed a film (again wrote the screenplay, dialogues and lyrics) Tu hi Meri Ganga (starring Tushar Dalvi and Rajshri Nair of Hyderabad Blues fame). This film, based on rituals and relationships, figured in one of the film festivals in the United States.
"Hyder Mahal was the title given by Quli Qutub Shah to Bhagmati when he became the Sultan of Golconda, founded a `city', named it Bhagyanagar and built the Charminar," says Goel.
The film is shot in the historical monuments like Golconda fort, Qutub Shahi tombs, Paigah tombs and other places in the city.
The musical narration of the film is through a Sufi saint, Jalal Shah (from Ajmer), played by Rajesh Vivek (of Lagaan and the tele-serial Mahabharata). The Sufi influence was prevalent in the court of Golconda. Therefore, some of the songs have a Sufi tenor.
The music (the lyrics are written by Goel barring one where he has used the lines of Quli Qutub Shah himself) for this film is composed by K.V. Srinivas and Sheikh Hussain Vali and Goel has roped in singers like Sukhvindra Singh, Shreya Ghoshal (of Devdas fame), Suresh Wadkar, Vinod Rathod, Ram Shankar, Mohd. Salamat, Adnan Salim and Nithya Santoshi. About nine songs form part of the narrative. Goel has gone in for fresh faces to play the lead pair (Akbar Khan too chose model Zulfiqar Syed and Sonya Jahan, grand daughter of actress-singer of yesteryear Noor Jehan to play the younger Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal). Sunit Malhotra (from Delhi) and Deepa Palzer (whose father is a German and mother Hyderabadi. They are settled in Germany) were zeroed down for the king and dancer's role.
The role of Ibrahim Quli (the father of Quli and Sultan of Golconda) is essayed by Gajendra Chauhan (Yudhishtra of tele-serial Mahabharata), his wife Bhagirathi by Sana, Bhagmati's sister by Preeti Nigam. Vinay Varma (of Sutradhar) plays the zamindar of Chanchallam where Bhagmati hails from.
It is interesting to note that the cinematography is by a woman - Vijayshree. "Special lenses were used by her to give the period look," says Goel. Goel's wife Sumitra Devi Goel (who is also the Chief Production Controller) designed the costumes and the art direction is by Noor Ali Sheikh, an artist from Shantiniketan.
"The romantic and secular flavour is maintained throughout this two hours, 45 minutes film," says Goel about his low-budget venture. History is waiting to be `retold' on the screen. So audiences get ready to `relive the era'.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Chennai
Hyderabad
|
