Mohammad Ali Baig

Last updated

Mohammad Ali Baig
Born
NationalityIndian
Occupation(s)Theatre Personality, and Ad and Documentary Film Maker
Known forTheatre

Mohammad Ali Baig is an Indian theatre personality and film maker of ad and documentary films, referred to by the media as 'Global Face of Hyderabadi Theatre', 'Sultan of Epics' and 'Master of Revival'. [1] [2] He is the recipient of the Padmashri He founded the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation in Hyderabad in 2005, [3] as a tribute to his father, theatre legend late Qadir Ali Baig. In April 2014, he was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, in 2014 for his contributions in theatre arts. [4]

Contents

Born into one of the most prominent theatre families in India, the playwright-director-actor remains passionately devoted to the family legacy. The Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation is dedicated to promoting meaningful theatre in Hyderabad. He is the founder-curator of Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival, one of the most prestigious theatre festivals in the country, held annually in Hyderabad during October–November.

Early life

Mohammad Ali Baig was born to renowned theatre personality, Qadir Ali Baig in Hyderabad and Begum Razia Baig, who is Chairperson of the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation. Mohammad Ali Baig traversed almost the entire gamut of Indian theatre as a child, and avant-garde world theatre as a teenager. [5]

Career

At an age when most youngsters would be stepping out of film school and beginning to assist senior filmmakers, Mohammad Ali Baig was already directing stalwarts in the industry as an advertising film maker, and became the youngest director-on-board of India’s pioneering public limited TV and films production company, Odyssey in Bangalore.

Mohammad Ali Baig has produced and directed over 400 advertising and corporate films for leading Indian and foreign brands in India, Thailand, and in other countries. His ad films, short films, and social documentaries have been telecast around the world; from Doordarshan in India to BBC in UK, Discovery Channel in USA, CNN and Moscow Television in Russia.

He formed the ‘Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation’ in 2005 along with his mother Begum Razia Baig and Lakshmi Devi Raj, as a tribute to his legendary father and to revive quality theatre in Hyderabad. One of the most experienced and prominent names in Indian theatre today, His own productions include: South India’s biggest original musical production in Hindustani, ‘Taramati- The Legend of an Artist’, ‘His Exalted Highness’, ‘Reading Between the Lines’, ‘Raat Phoolon Ki’, ‘Resham Ki Dor’, ‘Pankhdiyaan’, ‘Aaina’, ‘Dada Saheb Phalke’, ‘Quli: Dilon ka Shahzaada', ‘Savaan-e-Hayat’, 'Spaces' and '1857: Turrebaz Khan'.

'Quli : Dilon ka Shahzaada', 'Savaan-e-Hayat', 'Spaces' (co-written by and also featuring Baig's wife, writer-actor Noor Baig) have been feted at prestigious festivals and venues in India, Canada, France, Turkey, UK and USA. 'Quli: Dilon ka Shahzaada' has a successful week-long run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016. His latest play '1857: Turrebaz Khan' had its world premiere there, followed by a premiere in London.

Filmography

YearFilmRoleLanguage
2017 Aruvi Mohammad Shakeel Waqaab Tamil
2022 Cobra Kathir's guru
Sardar P. K. Abraham

Web series

YearFilmRoleLanguagePlatform
2020 She Alam Hindi
English
Netflix
2021 In the Name of God Rossi Telugu Aha
2022 Aha Naa Pellanta Mr. K ZEE5

Awards

He has won two international awards for his film ‘Rockumentary’. [6] Various global honours (French Honour in Paris, [7] Awards for Global Excellence in Theatre in Toronto and Chicago, Retrospectives in Turkey, UK and USA) have been for his kind of theatre that makes history contemporary, fantasy realistic and multiculturalism chic. His heritage-based theatre productions have been the toast of several international festivals in India, Canada, France, Pakistan, Turkey, USA and UK. His theatre is modeled on his father’s Spectacle Theatre, performed at iconic venues; forts, palaces and stadiums, drawing large-number turnouts. He is credited for single-handedly reviving theatre in Hyderabad over the past decade. As an advertising and documentary filmmaker, he has over 450 productions to his credit, bringing him over 40 awards for creative excellence globally.

In April 2014, he was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, in 2014 for his contributions in theatre arts. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alla Rakha</span> Indian tabla player

Ustad Alla Rakha Qureshi, mononymously known as Alla Rakha, was an Indian tabla player who specialised in Hindustani classical music. He was a frequent accompanist of sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar and was largely responsible for introducing Tabla to the western audience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shyam Benegal</span> Indian director and screenwriter

Shyam Benegal is an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema, he is widely considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. He has received several accolades, including eighteen National Film Awards, a Filmfare Award and a Nandi Award. In 2005, he was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in the field of cinema. In 1976, he was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian honour of the country, and in 1991, he was awarded Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honour for his contributions in the field of arts.

Jawahar Wattal is an Indian cultural entrepreneur, music director and producer, best known for being a pioneer in the Indian non-filmi music field and for shifting the focus of the industry to Delhi. He has worked with singers Baba Sehgal and Daler Mehndi in the 1990s. Over the years he has composed 3,000 jingles, given music for television series like, The World This Week, Himalaya Darshan and Ru Ba Ru, besides he has composed 73 music albums out of which 19 have gone multi-platinum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah</span> Fifth Sultan of Qutb Shahi dynasty

Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah was the fifth sultan of the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golkonda and founded the city of Hyderabad, in South-central India and built its architectural centerpiece, the Charminar. He was an able administrator and his reign is considered one of the high points of the Qutb Shahi dynasty. He ascended to the throne in 1580 at the age of 15 and ruled for 31 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyderabadi Muslims</span> Indian Muslim community

Hyderabadi Muslims, also referred to as Hyderabadis, are a community of Deccani people, from the area that used to be the princely state of Hyderabad in the regions of Marathwada, Telangana, and Kalyana-Karnataka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dhirendra Nath Ganguly</span>

Dhirendra Nath Ganguly, better known as Dhiren Ganguly or D.G, was a Dadasaheb Phalke Award-winning and Padma Bhushan recipient film entrepreneur/actor/director of Bengali Cinema. He had set up a number of film production companies: Indo British Film company, British Dominion Films, Lotus Film Company. Later, he directed films for New Theatres. He produced many movies in the comedy genre. He was born in Calcutta and died in the same city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qutb Shahi tombs</span> Necropolis in Hyderabad

The Qutub Shahi Tombs are located in the Ibrahim Bagh, close to the famous Golconda Fort in Hyderabad, India. They contain the tombs and mosques built by the various kings of the Qutub Shahi dynasty. The galleries of the smaller tombs are of a single storey while the larger ones are two storied. In the centre of each tomb is a sarcophagus which overlies the actual burial vault in a crypt below. The domes were originally overlaid with blue and green tiles, of which only a few pieces now remain.

Javed Siddiqui is a Hindi and Urdu screenwriter, dialogue writer and playwright from India. He has written over 50 storylines, screenplays and dialogues.

The All Pakistan Music Conference (APMC) is a volunteer organization founded in 1959 for the promotion of classical arts in Pakistan and continues to preserve and promote Pakistani classical and folk music and dance. It hosts a concert of music every month and a 5 day annual festival in Lahore, Pakistan typically in the last weekend of October. It has a chapter in Karachi as well. Ever since its inception, it has been a constant source of inspiration for thousands of music lovers nationwide.

Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival is an annual theatre festival held in Hyderabad, India.

Syed Mohiuddin Qadri Zore was an Indian writer, scholar, poet, literary critic, historian, and social reformer. He is best known for his pursuit of the rejuvenation of Urdu language and literature, writing 61 books in his lifetime, generating a major foundation of the Urdu literature now taught in all schools throughout India. Recognized as the first Urdu linguist, his writing ranged from short stories to novels to poetry, social commentary, scholarly criticism, and linguistic analysis. Along with his written legacy, one of his greatest contributions to revitalizing Urdu was his establishment of the organization Idare Adabiyaat e Urdu dedicated to the recovery, restoration, and digitalization of aging and disintegrating texts, books, and manuscripts, which are used in research of the ancient language. He also helped to found the Abdul Kalam Azad Oriental Research Institute, and a still-published Urdu magazine, known as Sabras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghulam Mustafa Khan (singer)</span> Indian Hindustani classical vocalist (1931–2021)

Ghulam Mustafa Khan was an Indian classical musician in the Hindustani classical music tradition, belonging to the Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Hyderabad</span> Overview of the culture of Hyderabad (India)

The culture of Hyderabad, also known as Hyderabadi Tehzeeb or Dakhini Tehzeeb, is the traditional cultural lifestyle of the Hyderabadi Muslims, and characterizes distinct linguistic and cultural traditions of North and South India, which meet and mingle in the city and erstwhile kingdom. This blending was the result of the geographic location of the region and the variety of historical dynasties that ruled the city across different periods—its inception by the Qutub Shahi dynasty in 1591 AD, the occupation by the Mughal Empire and its decline, and the patronage under the Asaf Jahi dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Telangana</span> Cultural history of an Indian state

The Culture of Telangana in India has a cultural history of about 5,000 years. The region emerged as the foremost centre of culture in Indian subcontinent during the rule of Kakatiyas, the Qutb Shahis and Asaf Jahi dynasties—. The rulers patronage and interest for culinary, arts and culture transformed Telangana into a multi-cultural region where two different cultures coexist together, thus making Telangana the representative of the Deccan Plateau and its heritage with Warangal and Hyderabad being its epicenter. Hyderabadi cuisine and Kakatiya architecture both from Telangana, are on the list of UNESCO creative city of gastronomy and UNESCO World Heritage Site. The regions major cultural events celebrated are "Kakatiya Festival" and Deccan Festival along with religious festivals Bonalu, Bathukamma, Dasara, Ugadi, Sankranthi, Milad un Nabi and Ramadan.

Bilkees Idrees Latīf was an Indian social worker and writer from Telangana, known for her work in the slums of India. She was a founding member of INTACH.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taher Ali Baig</span> Indian Director

Taher Ali Baig is an Indian playwright who marked his directorial debut in theatre in 2014. He has written, directed and produced various house-full plays at venues like Bangalore Club, Secunderabad Club, Hyderabad Golf Club, Lamakaan, and Hyderabad. The Deccan Chronicle has described him as the hitman of the theatre industry. Taher has conducted and organized 20 acting workshops and has made advertising and corporate videos for clients like Kiana Skin Care, Optimus Manufacturers Pvt Ltd, Volvo Cars. Taher directed and wrote a short film Fitrat which has gone on to earn accolades at various film festivals across the globe, which include Best Director in AAB International Film Festival 2020, Critic's Choice Award in L’Age d’Or International Art-house Film Festival (LIAFF), Outstanding Achievement Award in World Film Carnival (WFC), Critic's Choice Award in Tagore International Film Festival (TIFF) and many more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qutb Shahi architecture</span> Indo-Islamic architectural style

Qutb Shahi architecture is the distinct style of Indo-Islamic architecture developed during the reign of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, also known as the Golconda Sultanate.

Hayat Bakshi Begum was the royal consort of Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah, the sixth ruler of the Qutb Shai Dynasty in south India and daughter of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, fifth Sultan of the dynasty. When her son Abdullah Qutb Shah was made sultan at the age of fourteen in 1626, she acted as regent for the first few years of his reign, and continued to wield considerable influence in the state until her death.

References

  1. "Hyderabadi actor wows city theatre-goers". 24 January 2017 via The Economic Times - The Times of India.
  2. "All The World's His Stage". www.magzter.com.
  3. The Hindu (8 November 2010). "Archive News". The Hindu . Archived from the original on 13 November 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Padma Awards Announced". Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 25 January 2014. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  5. "Tarun returns to theatre". The Hindu. 13 January 2007. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  6. "November issue by Tulip Magazine - Issuu". issuu.com. 6 January 2014.
  7. "Mohammad Ali Baig's theatre revival movement in the city got another shot in the arm. The French government has invited Baig to Paris to share his celebrated theatre revival movement with other French theatre companies. This will be Baig's third global honour in three years". 29 September 2010 via The Economic Times - The Times of India.