Stagebuzz in association with Pierrot's Troupe is proud to present a
reading of a historical play To Anchor a Cloud by the Internationally
acclaimed Historian and Journalist Dilip Hiro. The Play will be
directed by Manohar Khushalani. The Cast Includes S. Somasunderam,
Manish Manoja, Mala Kumar, Joya John and Sanyam. The 1st reading /
enactment was performed at Alliance Francaise on 28th Feb and the next
reading is scheduled at Akshara Theatre on 2nd March ( For Details see
the Advertisement elsewhere on this page) The play is about the
intensely complex romantic relation****p between Shahjahan and Mumtaz
Mahal and the power struggle for the throne of the Mughal Empire after
the death of Empror Jehangir. Amongst the many plots and subplots the
play also examines Shahjahan as the Architect builder and Mumtaz Mahal
as the brain behind Shahjahan. Dilip Hiro is in India to promote his
latest Book Blood of The Earth: The Global Battle For Vani****ng Oil
Resources, published by Penguin India. During his lectures he has
often quizzed his audience about what they know about Mumtaz Mahal.
Most people don't know much beyond the fact that she was a ravi****ng
beauty and that she died in child birth . Dilip has fleshed out the
personality of Mumtaz Mahal about whom nothing much has been written
in History.
Dilip Hiro was born in the Indian subcontinent, and educated in
India, Britain and the United States, where he received a Master's
degree. He then settled in Britain in the mid-1960s, and became a full-
time writer, journalist and broadcaster. He has published 30 books and
contributed to 16 more.
He has written extensively for stage, television and cinema. To
Anchor a Cloud, his three-act stage play about the struggle for power
by Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan, and the concept of the Taj Mahal, was
produced in London in 1970, starring Saeed Jaffrey, Jamila Massey and
Mrac Zuber. It was published in 1987 as part of Three Plays. The other
plays in the collection were Apply, Apply, No Reply, written
originally for BBC TV and broadcast in 1976, and A Clean Break, a one-
act play performed in 1978. He scripted 10 of the 21 episodes on the
BBC TV's drama serial Parosi, centered round the lives of South Asian
immigrants in Britain, broadcast in 1978-79 and repeated a year
later. He is the co-script writer of A Private Enterprise, a story of
a young Indian immigrant in Britain trying to become a successful
businessman, which was judged the best British film of 1974, and won
prize at the Chicago Film Festival. .In 1985 he wrote The Video
Wicked, a stage play for the Royal Cur Theatre, London, for young
audience. The Asian Cooperative Theatre, London, presented a staged
reading of his three-act play, In Search of Lord Clive's Corpse in
1993.
As the play, To Anchor a Cloud, is set in the seventeenth century
India a brief description of the Moghul dynasty, which then ruled the
country, should help understand and appreciate it better. Jahangir was
the Emperor of India from 1605 to 1627. He had four sons - Khusru,
Parwez, Khurram and Shahriyar - in that order. Shah Jahan (literally,
'Ruler of the World') is the name that Prince Khurram acquired when he
finally won the imperial throne. However, for the sake of simplicity,
the authorI has used the name Shah Jahan throughout the script. Since
the Moghul dynasty lacked the tradition of the eldest son
automatically succeeding the father, rivalry for the throne broke out
during the ruling emperor's lifetime. This happened in the case of
Jahangir and his sons. In 1618, when the play opens, the fight for the
imperial throne was already on.
"The main outline of the play is faithful to history. But to make
drama out of history a playwright has to distort and recast some facts
and events, and invent others, and, says the author, "I have done
so."
Regarding the main characters, Dilip has visualised them thus:
Jahangir: (Manish Manoja). Moody with a quick changing mind; yet
shrewdly aware of the interests of his Empire.
Nur Jahan: (Joya John) Favourite wife of Jahangir. Domineering. Given
to intrigue in her later days.
Shah Jahan: (Manohar Khushalani / S. Somasundaram).Sensitive,
artistic, ambitious. His idealistic approach to life makes him prone
to 'holier-than-thou' attitude. Devoted to Mumtaz Mahal. Fond of
poetry, music and architecture; but also a valiant soldier.
Mumtaz Mahal: (Mala Kumar / Joya John) Favourite wife of Shah Jahan.
Devoted to her husband without being servile or overbearing.
Asaf Khan:(Manish Manoja) Father of Mumtaz Mahal, brother of Nur
Jahan. Flexible except in his unswerving loyalty to Mumtaz Mahal, and
thus to Shah Jahan.
Parwez: (S. Somasundar / Manohar Khushalani). Stout with a bland,
clean-shaven face. Slow in his movement and wits; but has zest for
enjoyment.
Rodreguiz: (Sanyam) A Jesuit priest. Wily, with a special flair for
striking bargains. Always dressed in black
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