A Tribute to THE LEGEND
The Flagship Festival
The annual Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival held in Hyderabad every year pays tribute to theatre legend late Qadir Ali Baig saheb. Now in its nineteenth edition, the Festival features the who’s who of world theatre. One of the four most important theatre assemblies in the country, it is the largest theatre assembly in the subcontinent.
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The 5-day, multi-lingual festival this year features a host some of the best plays from across the country and overseas.
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Some of the eminent performers include Ila Arun, Nadira Babbar, Ashish Vidyarthi, K.K. Raina, Himani Sivpuri, Rajendra Gupta, Praveen Kumar, Dolly Thakore, Alexander Wright from UK, Zila Khan and Mohammad Ali Baig.
The Foundation
Reviving Quality Theatre - A Tribute to a Doyen
The period of vacuum and lull in Hyderabad’s theatre after Mirza Qadir Ali Baig’s demise was to be filled. In 2005, on the occasion of the 20th death anniversary of late Qadir Ali Baig saheb, the Ministry of I&PR, Government of Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad’s arts and literary fraternity decided to start and name a theatre foundation in his memory as a tribute to the theatre icon. His wife, Begum Razia Baig was invited to Chair the Foundation and his son, advertising whiz Mohammad Ali Baig was chosen to spearhead the city’s revival movement. Thus was formed the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation.
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With highly eminent theatre practitioners and performing artistes from different disciplines on its board like M.S. Sathyu, Javed Akhtar, Prof. Ram Gopal Bajaj, Vani Ganapathy, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Kadir Zaman, and others, the Foundation was set up to revive theatre in the city. One might say forming the Foundation is an attempt at a déjà vu of the kind of theatre that Qadir Ali Baig saheb had achieved in presenting.
Mohammad Ali Baig
The Torchbearer
Theatre Revivalist - Playwright - Actor - Director
His grandfather’s world record in polo in England, while playing with the Nizam’s team, remains unparalleled in the game’s history. His father’s theatre movement in Hyderabad is of course, legendary. His brother’s work in avant-garde theatre is pioneering.
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Mohammad Ali Baig, from this illustrious lineage, is said to have turned a new page in the history of theatre in Hyderabad. His theatre revival movement for Hyderabad is a model shared by theatre companies overseas, prompting the national media to term him ‘Master of Revival’, ‘The New Age Theatre Revivalist’, ‘Hyderabad’s face of world class theatre’ and ‘Global Face of Hyderabad Theatre’.
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•Recipient of the Padmashri in 2014
•Award for Global Excellence in Theatre in Canada and USA in 2014 and 2016
•French Honour in Paris in 2010
•Retrospectives in Turkey and UK in 2015 ...Read More...
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QADIR ALI BAIG THEATRE FESTIVAL 2024
Hyderabad’s and South India’s iconic theatre event to begin from November 6th
Taramati Baradari | November 06th - 10th 2024
In its nineteenth edition, South India’s most prestigious theatre Festival the ‘Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival’ offers a bouquet of performances, master classes and workshops for theatre and performing arts lovers. Spread across a week at the historic and picturesque Taramati Baradari Cultural Complex, it is Hyderabad’s iconic theatre event of internationally-acclaimed theatre exponents from across the country and overseas. It is curated by theatre and screen actor Padmasri Mohammad Ali Baig as a tribute to his father, theatre legend Qadir Ali Baig.
Classical theatre, satire, love stories, dance theatre, storytelling and even a stand-up act form this year’s offering. Some of the eminent performers include Ila Arun, Nadira Babbar, Ashish Vidyarthi, K.K. Raina, Himani Sivpuri, Rajendra Gupta, Praveen Kumar, Dolly Thakore, Alexander Wright from UK, Zila Khan and Mohammad Ali Baig.
Ila Arun and K.K. Raina perform ‘Miracle on Matunga Street’ a satire adapted from Tom Dudzick’s play ‘Miracle on South Division Street’. Ashish Vidyarthi presents a stand-up act based on his memorable character Vitthal Kaanya from the movie ‘Vaastav’. Nadira Babbar wrote and directed ‘Farida’, a love story set in Kashmir. A dance-theatre performance by Bengaluru’s Praveen Kumar of Chithkala School of Dance titled ‘Thyagaraja Hruth Sadhana’, is based on Thyagaraja’s writing. Greek storytelling of its myths in an interactive act by UK’s Alexander Wright, Zila Khan’s classical concert along with celebrated theatre revivalist Mohammad Ali Baig in the open-air amphitheater is titled ‘An ode to Motherhood’ and is a homage to Hyderabad’s theatre doyenne Begum Razia Baig who passed away in March this year. Begum Razia Baig had chaired and Co-founded this benchmark theatre festival for 18 consecutive years. Himani Shivpuri and Rajendra Gupta’s ‘Jeena Isi ka Naam Hai’ and master classes by Dolly Thakore, Nadira Babbar, Alexander Wright and Ashish Vidyarthi will enthrall Hyderabad for a week.
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The theatre festival will be live with online bookings on www.bookmyshow.com and will be streamed online at a later date.
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