Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR Dec 3: Versatile and well-known actor Shekhar Suman enthralled the audience with his poignant performance of Ek Mulaqaat,(one meeting), a play written by Ahmed and Saif Hyder Hasan, and directed by Saif Hyder Hasan, on day 11 of Arunachal Rang Mahotsav being played at Dorjee Khandu Convention Hall here on Wednesday.
Ek Mulaqaat dramatizes the unfulfilled, lyrical romance between two legendary poets: Amrita Pritam, the trailblazing Punjabi poet and novelist known for her bold expressions of love and feminism, and Sahir Ludhianvi, the iconic Urdu poet and lyricist famous for his socially conscious verses in films like Pyaasa.
The play unfolds in a single, imagined fateful encounter between the two, capturing the emotional depth of their kindred spirits drawn together yet kept apart by timing, personal circumstances, and societal norms.
Through intimate dialogues, heart-wrenching poetry recitations, and shayaris (Urdu couplets), it explores themes of unrequited love, longing, regret, and the beauty of unspoken connections. The narrative blends historical reverence with poetic intimacy, emphasizing how their words-rich in Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi-become the bridge for emotions too complex for plain speech.
Suman played as Sahir Ludhianvi and Geetika Tyagi as Amrita Pritam, captivated the audiences with their impeccable recitation of poetic dialogues and Urdu couplets. The play opened with Sahir’s entry reciting poetic dialogue, “Inhi ke saaye mein aaj do dharakte dil, kamosh hoton se kahne sunne aaye hai…..”
Sahir kept reciting poetic dialogues while Amrita sitting on a stool silently knitting wool. The play’s climax reached with a trunk call from Mumbai, interrupting heartrending poetic conversation between Sahir and Amrita. The message conveyed Amrita about passing of Sahir. The play depicts that even passing, Sahir wanted to convey his unrequited love to Amrita.
“Meri zindagi bhar ki saari jama poonji toh tumari pass thi Amrita, Usse sametne aya tha, Apne dil ki gehrayi se akhri bar tumhein humesha ke liye chhune aya tha” (All the savings of my life were with you, Amrita, I came to gather them. From the depths of my heart, I came to choose you forever, one last time)
