A magical rendezvous

Their's was not a simple love story. She was married and already a renowned writer while he was a struggling poet still looking to make grounds in Bollywood. They may have confessed their love to each other, they may have not. Who knows? They hardly met, sometimes talked. But rarely Amrita Pritam and Sahir Ludhianvi's names are not taken in one breathe. One is incomplete without the other on the pages of biographies and anecdotes. Were they soulmates? If they had given a chance to their relationship would their story be any different to millions of love stories we hear everyday? They both are not here to tell us, but that hasn't stopped us to write about them.

The play by Saif Hyder Hasan Ek Mulakat deals with these two eminent poets. It is a play of unfulfilled love, magical poetry and music. Set on a wintry Delhi evening, the play moves along the path of a love story, a love that could not be realized. Amrita, played by Deepti Naval, is sitting all alone on her terrace when Sahir (Shekhar Suman) arrives unannounced. She is happy to meet him and together they go about talking of a life that they did not spend together. The what if questions are asked and unanswered questions answered. He has come today for a specific purpose. And is he actually there?

Amrita Pritam, in her memoirs had said that Sahir would many times come and sit quietly in her house. They would hardly talk and he would smoke incessantly (butt out his cigarettes after few drags) and will leave. Who needs words to understand each other? They didn't, it seems. Ek Mulakat deals with this unspoken love between two people.

When and Where: August 24 at NCPA from 7 pm onwards