Imtiaz
AH Taj was a scholar in Urdu language. He was also popular as a playwright, and Urdu theatre activist. His father, Syed Mumtaz
Ali, was a distinguished social reformer and writer. His mother also had
several books to her credit. In 1918, Taj started an influential literary
monthly named as ‘Kahkasha’n. He was drawn to theatre from his student days at
Government College, Lahore, and participated in the college drama society.
He
is remembered above all for his 1922 play ‘Anarkali’, based on the life of
‘Anarkali’, which staged hundreds of times and was tailored for feature films
in India and Pakistan, including the Indian film Mughal-e-Azam (1960).
He
was a co-founder of the fictitious journal ‘Kehkashan’. In adding to his many
translations of Shakespeare's plays into Urdu,
counting ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ as ‘Sawan Rain Ka Sapna’, he also wrote a
number of plays himself, the most distinguished being ‘Anarkali’ and ‘Chacha
Chakan’, which continue to be performed today.
Anarkali was different from the Urdu theatre and also popularized by Parsi companies. It was realistic in style and its prose. This was free from the artificial embellishments that characterized the dominant tradition of Urdu playwriting. However, Anarkali fails the test of stage worthiness. Although an ardent theatre enthusiast, Taj had little understanding of practical requirements. His play is too wordy and almost eight hours long. Because of this reason no regular group has produced it. However, it was made into a silent movie, The Loves of a Mughal Prince in 1928. In this movie Taj himself acted as Akbar. To know more read:
Anarkali was different from the Urdu theatre and also popularized by Parsi companies. It was realistic in style and its prose. This was free from the artificial embellishments that characterized the dominant tradition of Urdu playwriting. However, Anarkali fails the test of stage worthiness. Although an ardent theatre enthusiast, Taj had little understanding of practical requirements. His play is too wordy and almost eight hours long. Because of this reason no regular group has produced it. However, it was made into a silent movie, The Loves of a Mughal Prince in 1928. In this movie Taj himself acted as Akbar. To know more read:
