Reviving Quality Theatre - A Tribute to a Doyen:
There was a period of vacuum in Hyderabad’s theatre scene after the death of Mirza Qadir Ali Baig. 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 the Arts and Literary fraternity of Hyderabad 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 second son, advertising whiz Mohammad Ali Baig was chosen to spearhead the city’s revival movement. Thus was formed the ‘Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation’. Principles of the Foundation – A Commitment to Meaningful Theatre:
The Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation is devoted to promoting meaningful theatre in the twin cities by inviting globally-celebrated plays, as also producing local ones on a regular basis. The Foundation was built on the premise that theatre artistes must respect and continue the Foundation’s rich particularity and polarity, while at the same time just aposing it with a homogenised international culture. Above all, the Foundation’s work is founded on a consensus of meaningful theatre. With extremely experienced practitioners of theatre and from different artistic disciplines on its board like, M.S. Sathyu, Rohini Hattangady, Vani Ganapathy, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Urmila Matondkar, Javed Akhtar and others, the Foundation has its aim set at revitalising theatre. One might say forming the Foundation is an attempt at déjà vu of the kind of theatre that Qadir Ali Baig saheb had achieved in presenting. A Mission of Theatre – A Vision of Excellence:
The Foundation has been committed to creating a sustained momentum for the theatre movement in Hyderabad. Keeping this vision in mind, the Foundation’s work has been streamlined into regular productions and presentations of plays, a Global Theatre Initiative, a dedicated effort to promoting Heritage Theatre, and a series of workshops and talks under the banner of ‘Celebrating Theatre’. By exposing local audiences and the theatre fraternity to nationally and internationally-acclaimed productions, the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation is indeed devoted to reviving quality theatre in Hyderabad.
