Jan 16 2021 to Jan 17 2021 3:30 p.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Ranga Shankara

36/2, 8th Cross Rd, R K Colony, 2nd Phase, J. P. Nagar 560078

Event Description

Ranga Shankara will present "Ismat Apa Ke Naam", the much acclaimed play by Motley. The play, directed by Naseeruddin Shah, features Heeba Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah and Naseeruddin Shah himself. There will be two shows each on Sat 16 Jan and Sun 17 Jan 2021, at 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM. The play is being presented in association with Goethe Institut/ Max Muellar Bhavan, Bangalore. Tickets at Rs. 500 are available at the Ranga Shankara Box Office and bookmyshow.com. 

Ismat Apa Ke Naam, one of Motley's most popular plays, is a celebration of Ismat Khanum Chugtai (1915-1991), a multi-faceted talent, whose novels have been hailed as landmarks in Urdu literature. 

"We have opened our doors and what a privilege it is to have Motley come back with this popular play. "Ismat Apa Ke Naam" performed in our opening festival, to celebrate our tenth year and now, in this rebirth of sorts! We are truly grateful to Motley for accepting our invitation and Goethe Institut/ Max Muellar Bhavan with whose generous support we will be presenting a few more plays this year. Welcome back to theatre!", says Arundhati Nag of Ranga Shankara.

Director's Note:

Ismat Apa is a “funny old lady” is what I thought when I was privileged to meet her briefly in one of her many “avatars”, that of a film actress this time. In my ignorance, I took her for a cute cuddly grandma, nothing more. By the time I took the trouble to read her works, she was already a distant memory. In the course of her journey, I was to learn, she had been, at different times, novelist, playwright, screenplay writer, short-story writer, filmmaker and educationalist. Quite apart from being a liberated parent and doting grandparent. Gathering formidable educational degrees for herself, in a time when educated women were considered anomalies, and having chafed since childhood at diktats and structures designed solely to keep women their place, she reacted by thumbing her nose (and keeping it thumbed) at accepted notions and moralities. She created a proactive body of work, which astounded and shocked her contemporaries. Some of the earliest feminist writing I this country, its contribution to the virtual renaissance in the writing of the Urdu language which was occurring in India during the forties and fifties is too well now to need reiteration. It was not easy surely, to stand out in the company of such an awesomely gifted band of courageous, committed and creative writers as her contemporaries were; but Ismat Apa had no problem managing it with distinction in an age when to docilely accept being part of the furniture was the normal ‘destiny’ of all middle – class women.