ಸೈಡ್ ವಿಂಗ್ / Sidewing

 Collegiate Drama Society presents “Ghalib- e-Azam” on 28th & 
29th January 2010
Dr. C.D.Sidhu’s historical play
“GHALIB-E-AZAM”
(A musical play on Ghalib’s greatness)
Direction: Ravi Taneja
on 28th & 29th January 2010 ,Time: 6.30 pm
at
Shri Ram Centre, Safdar Hashmi Marg, Mandi House

Tickets: @ 200, 100 and 50 (Balcony)

For further information please contact: Ravi Taneja @ 9811211096

About the play:
Ghalib today remains popular amongst Urdu speakers not only in India 
and Pakistan but also amongst diaspora communities around the world and 
“Ghalib-e-azam” is a tribute to such a megnificent poet.
The play is a rare portrait of Ghalib as one of the most thoughtful 
writers and a man of his own values who was carefree, unconventional, 
and arguably, not very religious in the strict sense of the word.
It shows the humane side of Ghalib and tough circumstances with which 
he was engulfed throughout his life. His pain echoes in many of his 
Ghazals, pain of witnessing the death of all his seven children, his 
mentally not so sound brother Yusuf , his tormented wife Umrao besides 
the financial crisis caused by his relatives.

Ghalib has been one poet who has always thought ahead of his times and 
who stood for a learning society where the mind is free and the head is 
held high.
Among his significant creations are:-

FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT on
THE THEMATIC CONCEPT
Ghalib the Great! It is universally acknowledged that Mirza Ghalib 
is the greatest Urdu Poet. One may ask: wherein lies his greatness?

What qualities of Ghalib’s Urdu and Persian poetry 
make him a unique poet? What features of Ghalib’s prose in his letters 
make him the pioneer of classic Urdu prose? As a Man, what qualities of 
character distinguish this unparalleled Creator and Thinker?

So far, the stage has not done justice to Ghalib. 
Neither the film nor the TV serials have presented the whole truth 
about Ghalib’s Life and Times. Most of the dramas based on Ghalib’s 
Life are untrue to history. They exploit only a few cliché’s. Ghalib’s 
multifarious personality can easily yield material which can provide an 
entertaining evening. Most plays are farces exploiting Ghalib’s 
inimitable wit and humour in his innumerable anecdotes. His ghazals 
come in as easy fillers- whether sung by the dancing girls or recited 
in mushairas. But this popular image of Ghalib is a distortion of 
history. His drinking, bohemianism, living on borrowed money, barbs 
against orthodox religion and empty rituals- all come in handy to the 
money-makers in film an T.V. serials.

The truth about Ghalib’s greatness as a poet and man lies 
elsewhere.
Ghalib must be a prince among the immortal writers of the world for 
having endured superhuman misfortunes. His fortitude amidst endless 
difficulties is amazing. A scion of feudal lords with large estates, 
Ghalib was forced to live a life of poverty. A descendent of soldiers 
over eight centuries, Ghalib vowed to convert his hereditory arrows 
into a Pen to write Urdu and Persian verses. Orphaned at the age of 
five, Ghalib was cheated out of the income from his large estate at 
Ferozpur Jhirka by his close relations. Betrayed and bedeviled, Ghalib 
fought bravely to get justice for his younger brother, for his 
grand-mother and three aunts. His life long struggle to get back his 
family’s pension shows his tremendous tenacity and persevering spirit. 
Ghalib was not a luxury loving wastrel. Nor was he a drunkard and a 
gambler who went beyond all limits. He lived a disciplined life to 
create immortal verses. He won an all India reputation during his own 
time- as a Persian scholar, a poet and a teacher of poets.

The popular image of Ghalib as a Man and Poet needs to be 
corrected. A great injustice has been done to Ghalib and his wife as a 
married couple. Most dramas, films and biographies dismiss Umrao Jaan 
as an illiterate orthodox Muslim who had no share in Ghalib’s 
intellectual life. Their sixty years of married life are treated as 
Ghalib’s ‘imprisonment’. Ghalib’s own joke at his cost is taken 
literally. It is a grave distortion of facts. Ghalib shared with his 
wife the births and deaths and burials of seven infants. Through thick 
and thin they lived a married life of sixty years. Ghalib loved 
children. They adopted their nephew as their son. And after his 
untimely death they brought up his two children as their grandsons. 
Ghalib had the capacity to give affection to others and earn the love 
and devotion of a hundred friends and disciples.

I consider Ghalib’s visit to Banaras as central to 
an understanding of his poetry and philosophy of life. We need to focus 
on his Persian masnavi “Chiragh-e-Dair” where he expresses his 
fascination for Banaras. To Ghalib, Kashi was the Kaaba of India.

Ghalib belongs to the great Indian Tradition of Charvak Rationalists 
who challenged the fanatic priests and blasted their lies about Hell 
and Heaven Ghalib’s kindered spirits are the Bhakti poets like Kabir, 
Nanak, Tulsi and Ravidas. He belongs to the brotherhood of Sufi singers 
like Amir Khusro and Bullay Shah.

In my play script, I try to reconstruct the history of Ghalib’s Life 
and Times. I have attempted to fathom the mind and heart of a poet who 
contended with infinite violence and betrayals through his superhuman 
fortitude. This fortitude, this heroic struggle to overcome all 
difficulties, is the key to the Mind and Art of Mirza Ghalib the Great!

- C.D.SIDHU