| Bombay Flower | |
|---|---|
 Official poster | |
| Written by | Geeta Manek |
| Characters | Rattanbai Jinnah |
| Date premiered | 26 March 2023 |
| Place premiered | National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai |
| Original language | Gujarati |
| Subject | Rattanbai Jinnah |
| Genre | Biographical drama |
| Setting | Bombay during British India |
Bombay Flower is a 2023 play about Ruttie Petit Jinnah, wife of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, written by Geeta Manek and directed by Manoj Shah.
Bombay Flower was premiered at National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) on 26 March 2023. [1] The stage duration of the play is 120 minutes. The script of the play is based on books Mr. and Mrs. Jinnah: The Marriage that Shook India by Sheela Reddy and Ruttie Jinnah: Ek Alag Drashtikon Rajendra Mohan Bhatnagar. [2]
The original cast included: [2] [3]
Bombay Flower is dedicated to Parsi theatre, which gave rise to the modern theatre of India and laid the foundation of Gujarati theatre. The play is focused on Ratanbai "Ruttie" Petit-Jinnah, who was referred to as 'The Flower of Bombay' by the high society of Bombay. Ruttie revolts against her family and society. The play tries to dwell deeply into the matter regarding the elements that inspire the educated and capable youth to make such decisions. The political circumstances of that time, a thought regarding the origin of Pakistan, the mentality of poet Iqbal implanted in the mind of Jinnah, etc.; historical matters are woven in the plot of the play.
Deepa Gahlot writes that the "play portrays Ruttie not as a giddy teen flattered by the attentions of a stylish, sophisticated man and rising political star, but a well-read young woman, who wanted to be a part of the freedom struggle and stand by her husband in his fight for Independence". [4]
Rattanbai Jinnah, also known as Ruttie Petit, was the wife of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, an important figure in the creation of Pakistan and the country's founder.
Dina Wadia was the only child and daughter of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan, and Rattanbai Petit.
Shah Nawaz Bhutto, was a politician and a member of Bhutto family hailing from Larkana in the Sind region of the Bombay Presidency of British India, which is now Sindh, Pakistan.
Nusli Neville Wadia is an Indian billionaire businessman and the chairman of the Wadia Group, an Indian conglomerate involved in the FMCG, textiles, and real estate industries, among others. His net worth was estimated at US$4.1 billion by Forbes in August 2021.
Syed Muhammad Zauqi Shah (1878–1951) was a Sufist scholar considered a Waliullah or Sufist saint. He graduated from Aligarh University in India. A member of the Chishti Order of Sufi, his work combined merits of Islamic scholarship and modern knowledge.
The Wadia family is a Parsi family from Surat, India currently based in Mumbai, India. The family rose to wealth in the mid-1700s as shipbuilders serving the British East India Company as the latter established its sway over India.
Fatima Jinnah was a Pakistani politician, stateswoman, author, and activist. She was the younger sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder and first Governor-General of Pakistan. She served as the Leader of the Opposition of Pakistan from 1960 until her death in 1967.
Jinnah is a 1998 Pakistani–British epic biographical film which follows the life of the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It was directed by Jamil Dehlavi, and written by Akbar S. Ahmed and Jamil Dehlavi. It stars Christopher Lee in the lead role as Jinnah.
Pakistan has several official national symbols, including a flag, an emblem, an anthem, a memorial tower as well as several national heroes. The symbols were adopted at various stages in the existence of Pakistan and there are various rules and regulations governing their definition or use. The oldest symbol is the Lahore Resolution, adopted by the All India Muslim League on 23 March 1940, and which presented the official demand for the creation of a separate country for the Muslims of India. The Minar-e-Pakistan memorial tower which was built in 1968 on the site where the Lahore Resolution was passed. The national flag was adopted just before independence was achieved on 14 August 1947. The national anthem and the state emblem were each adopted in 1954. There are also several other symbols including the national animal, bird, flower and tree.
Padmaja Naidu was an Indian freedom fighter and politician who was the 4th Governor of West Bengal from 3 November 1956 to 1 June 1967. She was the daughter of Sarojini Naidu.
When the All-India Muslim League was founded at Dacca, on 30 December 1906 at the occasion of the annual All India Muhammadan Educational Conference, It was participated by the Muslim leaders from Punjab, i.e., Sir Mian Muhammad Shafi, Mian Fazl-i-Hussain, Abdul Aziz, Khawaja Yusuf Shah and Sh. Ghulam Sadiq. Earlier Mian Muhammad Shafi organised a Muslim Association in early 1906, but when the All-India Muslim League was formed, he established its powerful branch in the Punjab of which he became the general secretary. Shah Din was elected as its first president. This branch, organised in November 1907, was known as the Punjab Provincial Muslim League.
Sir Muhammad Iqbal was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. His poetry is considered to be among the greatest of the 20th century, and his vision of a cultural and political ideal for the Muslims of British-ruled India is widely regarded as having animated the impulse for the Pakistan Movement. He is commonly referred to by the honourific Allama. and widely considered one of the most important and influential Muslim thinkers and Western religious philosophers of the 20th century.
The Jinnah family was a political family of Pakistan. It has played an important role in the Pakistan Movement for creation of Pakistan, a separate country for Muslims of India. The family held the leadership of All-India Muslim League, and its successor, Muslim League, until it was dissolved in 1958 by martial law.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pakistan on 14 August 1947, and then as the Dominion of Pakistan's first governor-general until his death.
Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata was an Indian industrialist who founded the Tata Group, India's biggest conglomerate company. He established the city of Jamshedpur.
Pir Syed Jamaat Ali Shah was a Pakistani author, Islamic scholar and Sufi saint of the Naqshbandi Order. He presided over the All India Sunni Conference and led the Movement for Shaheed Ganj Mosque. He was a contemporary of Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi, the founder of Barelvi movement.
Emibai Jinnah (1878–1893) was the first wife of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan, from 1892 until her death in 1893.
Manoj Sakarchand Shah is an Indian theatre director, actor and producer known for his works in the Gujarati theatre. He has directed over 90 plays, such as one-man plays and biographical plays, in different genres. He is known primarily for his quirky biographical plays which include: Hu Chandrakant Bakshi based on the writer of the same name, Mohan No Masalo based on Mahatma Gandhi, Apurva Avsar based on Jain mystic Shrimad Rajchandra, Mareez based on poet Mareez, Jal Jal Mare Patang based on writer-philosopher Manilal Dwivedi, Karl Marx in Kalbadevi based on German philosopher Karl Marx, and Dr. Anandibai Joshi: Like, Comment, Share based on Anandi Gopal Joshi, India's first female doctor. He produces plays under his theatre company Ideas Unlimited.
Karl Marx in Kalbadevi is a 2013 one-man play about the German philosopher Karl Marx played by Satchit Puranik. Written by Uttam Gada and directed by Manoj Shah, the play depicts an imaginary visit by Marx to Kalbadevi, the hypercapitalist area of Mumbai, India. The play tried to introduce to a commercially-minded Gujarati community the ideas of a radical critic of capitalist society, in a style that adopts song, dance, repartee, and interactive badinage with the audience to make his complex ideas more suitable to the taste and cultural background of local audiences.
Dr. Anandibai Joshi is a 2017 Gujarati-language one-man play about Anandibai Joshi (1865–1887), first Indian woman physician, written by Gita Manek and directed by Manoj Shah. Mansi Prabhakar Joshi played the role of Anandibai in the production. The play premiered on 2 December 2017 at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai for its Center Stage Drama Festival 2017. Unlike Shah's other one-man plays, this play features a woman character for the first time. It was later staged in Hindi and Marathi language.