Author: Mayank Chhaya
Publication: IndianMuslims.info
Date: November 17, 2006
URL: http://indianmuslims.info/news/2006/november/17/indian_muslim/indian_muslims_can_be_torchbearer_for_islamic_world_javed_shabana.html
Hindi movie couple Javed Akhtar and Shabana
Azmi believe Indian Muslims have the potential to be the torchbearer at a
time when the Islamic world is in ferment. Poet and lyricist Akhtar and actor
Azmi, currently touring the US with their highly acclaimed theatre production,
"Kaifi Aur Main", said that Muslims in India held out a great hope
for the rest of the community in the world because they had learned to negotiate
through demands of a democracy.
"I think the fact that India is a pluralist
democracy where people from different faiths and backgrounds have a means
to address their grievances prevents Muslims and others from resorting to
the more extreme ways such as terrorism. To that extent the Muslims of India
can provide leadership to the rest of the community in the world," Akhtar
told IANS in an interview.
He was responding to a suggestion that there
are some figures within the US foreign policy establishment who have begun
to realise that the Muslims in India could be a possible role model for Muslims
elsewhere.
Akhtar, however, added a caveat saying that
it was all good for the US to look at the Indian Muslims as a possible model
even while throwing its weight behind some of the most repressive Islamic
regimes in the world. He cited the example of Saudi Arabia.
"If you make a list of the kind of tyrants
that the US has supported in the last 50 years, you would realise that their
pronouncements about exporting democracy sound hollow," he said.
Azmi agreed that Indian Muslims could emerge
as the torchbearer at a time when the debate in the West inevitably centres
on the so-called clash of civilisations.
"As Javed said, democracy is the operative
part of the argument. In India democracy gives the people of all faiths the
hope that is often missing elsewhere. It is possible for a young Muslim boy
to go on to become a top cricketer, a top movie star and even the president."
Akhtar and Azmi are touring Canada and the
US with what they describe as a "unique" theatrical experience that
draws on the life and times of Kaifi Azmi, one of India's greatest Urdu poets
and movie lyricists.
"Kaifi Aur Main" is a two-hour narrative
written by Akhtar based on "Yaad Ki Rehguzar", a memoirs written
by Kaifi Azmi's wife and respected theatre and film actress Shaukat Kaifi.
The performance in interspersed with songs
written by Kaifi Azmi. The set is minimalist in terms of props with Akhtar
and Azmi sitting on either side and reading compelling incidents, comments,
notes from Kaifi Azmi's life.
"We have tried to capture the nearly
60 years of togetherness between Kaifisaab and Shaukat apa. There is romance,
there is playfulness, there is humour and there are a lot of other emotions
in between," said Akhtar, who is Kaifi Azmi son-in-law.
The performance brings the two together for
the first time on stage. "And I hope it is not the last time," said
Akhtar.
Describing the experience, he said: "To
say anything about Shabana would be stating the obvious. I merely read what
is written by me."
However, Shabana Azmi thinks Akhtar performs
brilliantly and brings out the spirit of her father's works very well.
Akhtar and Azmi are fresh from their recent
triumphs with him having been honoured with the 21st Indira Gandhi Award for
National Integration and her having been conferred the prestigious International
Gandhi Peace Prize.
The couple said they saw the honours as a
huge responsibility to do even better than what they have accomplished so
far in terms of their societal contributions.
Akhtar specifically talked about Citizens
for Justice and Peace (CJP), a Mumbai-based peace advocacy group, which has
done pioneering work in building communal bridges in the aftermath of the
sectarian strife in Gujarat.
The audiences here have welcomed "Kaifi
Aur Main". "The response so far as been phenomenal, particularly
in Toronto where the audience lapped up the whole experience," said Ketki
Parikh, who runs a performing arts promotion company called Vachikam.
