The relationship between poets Amrita Pritam and Sahir Ludhianvi has been much speculated and discussed. While Amrita was very vocal about her feelings for Sahir and freely wrote about them, Sahir himself chose to be silent. He never spoke about her either in words or in his work. Ek Mulaqaat, Saif Hyder Hasan’s new play to be staged at the GD Birla Sabhaghar in Kolkata on 2nd May is based on the lives of Amrita Pritam and Sahir Ludhianvi, played by Deepti Naval and Shekhar Suman.
Co-written by Summana Ahmed, Ek Mulaqaat is a play about unfulfilled love, poetry and music. It is set in Delhi on a wintry evening. The two poets converse. The woman is happy to meet the man and as they proceed in their conversation, unanswered questions are answered. The man has come with a specific purpose. But what could it be?
“Not just love. It is a play about art, music, artists and death” says Saif Hyder Hasan. A chat with the former journalist, novelist and now director.