While movies have been the primary source of entertainment in India, plays and events are slowly catching up. People are bored of only watching films and now go out for sporting events, stand-up comedy shows, food walks and of course, the good old plays. With newer venues like The Jeff Goldberg Studio, Harkat Studio, Tuning Fork, and The Cuckoo Club coming up, more events and plays can take place too. Earlier organizers were heavily dependent on the National Centre for the Performing Arts, St. Andrews Auditorium and Prithvi Theatre to hosts their plays or events but now the whole scenario has changed.
So, there are a number of events of that take place during the weekdays but on the weekends there are even more of them. All of them do not do exceptionally well though. One of the biggest events that had every show sold out is Mughal-E-Azam. The play is a grand affair as it brings the classic Bollywood film to life on stage. Mughal-E-Azam was first held late last year and it met with an overwhelming response. The shows were houseful and the critics who write events and plays review gave it a two thumbs up.
And why would a play like Mughal-E-Azam which is as extravagant as it gets, not do well? Not every day do fans of theater get to see such plays. Even when Disney brought The Beauty and the Beast to India, it met with a similar response. Unfortunately, there are no more shows of it so if you want to watch a larger-than-life play, Mughal-E-Azam is your best bet.
Mughal-E-Azam may not have a stellar cast but the crew associated with the play is fab. Bollywood’s most popular fashion designer - Manish Malhotra - has worked on the costumes for the actors in Mughal-E-Azam. Since it is set in a completely different era, the costumes need to reflect that and Manish Malhotra had paid attention to every minute detail. Even the choreography has been done by Mayuri Upadhya while Neil Patel has worked as the Production Designer. The biggest of them all though is the director of Mughal-E-Azam - Feroz Abbas Khan.
Besides working on plays like Saalgirah, Tumhari Amrita, Salesman Ramlal and Gandhi Virudh Gandhi, Khan has directed the critically-acclaimed Bollywood film, Gandhi, My Father. So, if you are in Mumbai, there’s no good reason to miss Mughal-E-Azam. The play generally happens over the weekend at the NCPA. Catch it as soon you can because there’s no update about when it will take place next.
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