Ek Mulaqaat

Sahir Ludhianvi (Shekhar Suman) and Amrita Pritam (Deepti Naval) were two literary greats in love with each other, each a big fan of the other’s work. Their romance, however, did not culminate in marriage. The pain of having to live their separate lives, yet being united in spirit, forms the crux of Ek Mulaqaat. The theatre resounds with Sahir Ludhianvi’s poetry in the background as the play begins, setting an atmosphere of rom­ance as the spirit of Ludhianvi visits Pritam on a cold wintry evening for the very last time to reminisce about the time they spent with each other and of the long days of separation.

The 80-minute play has many of Sahir’s popular songs—not sung in their filmy tunes but as ghazals—along with some of his best poems, like Taj Mahal. We also get an opportunity to hear some of Amrita Pritam’s poetry, replete with longing, rendered in chaste Punjabi by Deepti Naval, who recites them with emotion. Interwoven in their poetry, which speaks of their eternal love, is their cynicism of the Hindu-Muslim divide which kept them apart, and the pain of Partition. Naval, as always, is effortless in her performance but the real surprise is Suman, who belies the scepticism we have about him for another of those just laughing on cue in reality TV comedy shows. Reciting verse after verse in Urdu, the actor shows clean diction and immense restraint in his role as Ludhianvi. The play will travel to Mumbai and Bangalore, after running to full house in Delhi and Gurgaon.