Listen with Irfan

Listen with Irfan

By S.M.IrfanArtsPerforming Arts
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  • Episode 46 | Madhuri | Suno M F Husain Ki Kahani | A JOURNEY IN SOUND

    Conceived and produced by Irfan ©Radio Red 2003

    Featuring: MF Husain himself and Munish Sharma, Arshad Iqbal, Salima Raza, Banwari Taneja, SM Irfan, Aparna Ghoshal and others

    Music and Sound Design ORIGINAL

    Complete text (along with all new 5 unpublished chapters) from the autobiography of Maqbool Fida Husain in the form an audio book.

    From the sleeve notes of first digitally mastered and published work-

    Icon and Iconoclast. Legend and Maverick. A man who (at age 88) is driven by a seemingly constant charge of inexhaustible energy. And a mind which is constantly at work reinventing itself, always seeking avenues to express itself in novel ways without ever being trapped by the glitter of ephemeral fame and fortune. Husain is a remarkable painter and more importantly an incredible human being. When such a man sets on a quest he achieves the seemingly impossible with remarkable ease.


    An incurable romantic without being maudlin, Husain a few years back after living an eternity in excellence chose to write his memoirs. The text was written on myriad paper surfaces and then at some point put together by well wishers. Vivid and visual in its essence the text has been regarded as a literary gem pushing the frontiers of Hindustani literature.

    The autobiography chose to liberate itself from set norms and conventions of the form. Instead in his hand the pen served as a brush. And lines and the figures that emerged had the same superlative quality as his art. Broad, vivid and minimal. Conversational, nostalgic and humane. Husain’s memoir is an exquisite tale of an indomitable spirit fighting heavy odds to triumph. Episodic and high on empathy, Irfan found the work eminently suitable for a radio interpretation.

    Irfan, a radio professional and writer himself, understood the basic kernel of Husain’s way of story telling. That of the ancient Indian tradition of Qissagoi. The media whose presiding deity for time eternity have been the grandmothers within a family and its recipients dozens of eager ears tuned to numerous twists and turns of a multilayered tale.

    He also saw a unique opportunity to present to his world a form, a work hitherto unknown to the Hindustani speaking populous of India. The Audio Book. Intimately known to the Bengali and Malayalam listeners, the form is a powerful, intimate and energetic medium to tell a story. A form which supplements and complements the written word. A medium which is not bound by a particular script and can address people who can understand a language if not read it.


    New Delhi 17 September 2003

    10 min
  • Shambu Mitra | Disagrees on various issues

    A 1964 Seminar on Theatre, Calcutta

    Shambhu Mitra (22 August 1915 – 19 May 1997) speaks in a National Seminar on Theatre in India. Chaired by Ebrahim Alkazi in the presence of Balraj Sahni, Prithviraj Kapoor, Pratibha Agrawal, Shyamanand Jalan, Satyadev Dubey and others.

    Photo Courtesy Times Content

    7 min
  • Rajendra Raghuvanshi | Issues before people's theatre

    A 1964 recording.

    राजेंद्र रघुवंशी ने यह भाषण 1964 में अनामिका के तत्वावधान में हुए रंगकर्म सम्बन्धी एक राष्ट्रीय संगोष्ठी में दिया था। संगोष्ठी की अध्यक्षता कर रहे थे इब्राहीम अल्काज़ी और प्रतिभागियों में श्यामानंद जालान, शम्भू मित्र, बलराज साहनी, सत्यदेव दुबे और पृथ्वीराज कपूर आदि थे।

    राजेंद्र रघुवंशी (20 अप्रैल 1920 - 26 फरवरी 2003) और बिशन खन्ना ने मिलकर 1 मई 1942 को आगरा कल्चरल स्क्वाड की स्थापना की थी जो की बाद में 25 मई 1943 को इप्टा के रूप में परिवर्तित हो गया। राजेंद्र रघुवंशी ने नाटक में अभिनय, लेखन, गायन, नृत्य जैसे सभी पक्षों को प्रस्तुत किया और इसके अलावा वे कविता, गीत, कहानी, उपन्यास, वार्ता, रिपोर्ताज, संस्मरण, लेख, साहित्य आदि विभिन्न विधाओं के धनी थे। उन्होंने 40 साल से अधिक समय तक पत्रकारिता की और खेल, बच्चों का कोना आदि नए कॉलम सृजित किये।

    (जानकारी और चित्र आगरा इप्टा के फेसबुक पेज से साभार)

    10 min
  • Prithviraj Kapoor | My life in theatre

    Speaking in a seminar 1964

    Indian actor, film producer, director, writer and ex MP Rajya Sabha Prithviraj Kapoor (03 November 1906 – 29 May 1971) quoted Quran here in this rarest of the rare speech "Jo sunta nahin, wo samjhta nahin." (القرآن)

    Anamika, Calcutta

    Photo: Google search 

    29 min

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