Imran Zahid

Prisoners in their physical space need not be confined in their creative and emotional liberty. This is being proven by the female inmates of Tihar jail in Delhi who have turned into fashion designers for the entire cast of a film called Mark Sheet.Revealing details the films leading man Imran Zahid says, This is the first occasion that jail inmates will be designing costumes for a film, and we are very proud be part of this radical step towards rehabilitation. The Tihar authorities set up a fashion lab in 2017 for the female inmates and thats how they learnt to design clothes. Our films designer Winkie Singh has got these talented women to make our clothes. We are very excited and happy. This unique experiment in rehabilitation comes at a time when the link between Bollywood and a social awakening is growing by the day. Says Imran, Weve seen how recent films like Pad Man and Toilet Ek Prem Katha address social issues and bring about a reformatory impulse through cinema. Our films Mark Sheet is about leaked examination papers in Bihar. It is based on true facts. Having these talented ladies from Tihar jail as our creative partners is our good fortune. Also Read: Tihar jail inmates to turn reality show contestants

The ever-enterprising Mahesh Bhatt is about to take the initiative to resume Indo-Pak cultural dialogue with a stage adaptation of Shakespeares Romeo & Juliet which will convert the original play into an Indo-Pak love story. Sources say the play entitled Milne Do will feature artistes and musicians from both sides of the border. Delhi-based theatre actor Imran Zahid who will play Bhatts Romeo says, Bhatt Saab has already approached Ali Zafar to write a theme song for the play. We are now in the process of approaching some more Pakistanis singers and composers. The play will feature artistes from India and Pakistan. Says Mahesh Bhatt, It will address itself to the theme of us, instead of them.

This February, we will see the intrepid filmmaker-thinker-activist Mahesh Bhatt and his equally fearless daughter Pooja Bhatt together on stage sharing thoughts through letters written to one another and read aloud on stage. Actor Imran Zahid who produces the theatre piece with the father and daughter, explains, In our theatre piece, Mahesh Bhatt reads out excerpts from five letters he wrote for his daughter. A letter from each decade from 1970 to 2017. A letter for Poojas birth, a letter for her first heartbreak. A letter for her first film release. A letter for her first stint as a film maker. In short, we have letters for all seasons. Pooja Bhatt , who incidentally never answered those letters, now replies to each one of them. By reading out her letters onstage and addressing each letter with much needed objectivity, introspection and truthfulness. The sixth letter or the last letter is a letter from Mahesh to Pooja for todays times. For a time when she makes her foray into documentary theatre and bares her soul on stage. For a time when it is more important to hold onto ones integrity and sanity and when the world around us is wanting for us to explode into chaos, strife and uncertainty. Love in the times of war mongering. Imran says the theatre piece will cover the entire range of controversies in the father-daughter duos life. The theatre piece is about many aspects from a father battling alcohol addiction to a daughter accepting an unconventional step family. From the infamous stardust photo shoot to a family facing terrorist-like allegations. But most importantly, it is about our human quest for meaning. Here is a father who flushed the Osho maala and made a mentor of the anti-guru UG. Here is a daughter who ended her marriage and walked out unapologetically as she wanted to hold onto her idea of love. A father who is child-like with matters of the heart. A daughter who prides herself in being an old soul. While the father makes a case for meaninglessness and chaos being the only reality, the daughter still yearns to make concrete meaning of this randomness. And they both do that through letters. Letter from the past, letters from our present times and letters for our collective future. In a first, Pooja Bhatt and Mahesh Bhatt reunite, on a completely different medium, with a relatively unexplored genre, the documentary theatre. Satchit Puranik who will direct the father-daughter duo on stage says the art of letter-writing has been lost in the era of technology. He hopes to retrieve some of its past glory through this play.

Mahesh Bhatt and his actor-protege Imran Zahid are all set to revive their project on Chandrashekar Prasad who was President of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union and was murdered while addressing a meeting in his home town Siwan in 1997.

A film on Chandrashekhar's life with Mahesh Bhatt as creative consultant and Ajay Kanchan as director was announced in 2010 and shelved. But now the project is being revived.

Imran Zahid who will play Chandrashekhar Prasad says, "With the ongoing JNU controversy, and the students' ideology being showing in a poor light, it is imperative that the students of the university and their political ideology be put in the correct perspective. So it's important to revive our project CHANDU to show the reality in the JNU campus, their struggles and sacrifices through their slain JNU leader Chandrashekhar Prasad." Imran says Chandrashekhar's story is akin to what Kanhaiya Kumar is currently going though. "We were inspired by Chandrashekhar's courage to help under-privileged people, the way he moved from one part of the country to another to achieve his mission. I think the story of Chandrashekhar will inspire young India. I think he was the precursor to Kanhaiya." Imran has done his homework Chandrashekar. "I paid a visit to Chandrashekhar's birthplace, a small district in Bihar called Siwan. I wanted to breathe the same air as him and wanted to get into character. I went to Siwan by train. It's quite a tough journey, a train ride to Patna and from there another train ride to Siwan. However, for that train I had to wait for 10 hours. Imagine the journey of a young man; all the way from this little village to JNUin Delhi, it's commendable.

Chandu jaise log kisi political discussion se paida nahi hote hain, zameen aur uskihaqiqat se paida hote hain ." Imran feels strongly for the slain youth leader's message. "Youth has been a buzz word in India for a couple of decades now. But there's rarely been a better youth icon than the former JNU President Chandrashekhar Prasad (Chandu) who was brutally assassinated in 1997. In spite of all the tall claims about various initiatives for youth, the nation as a whole has failed to do any justice to the slain student leader." Imran feels it's time to cry out cinematically against the injustice that was done to Chandrashekhar's life. "Cutting across all the student unions, most student leaders and faculty members are unanimous that there hasn't been anyone more charismatic than Chandu either before or after him. Even more surprising is the fact that there has been a massive outcry and media initiatives for ensuring justice to Jessica Lal, Priyadarshani Matto, and Nitish Katara but no one so far bothered to take up the cause of justice on behalf of Chandu who paid with his life for challenging the nexus between the criminals and politicians and bringing about a social change in Bihar." Imran knows Chandu will ruffle feathers and is ready to face the backlash. "The very politicians who have been in power for years on the plank of social justice are the ones who have deprived Chandu of justice. So the question being asked is whether this Mahesh Bhatt venture will ruffle feathers and put the spotlight back on those suspected to be behind Chandu's assassination? Will there be media recognition at long last that justice needs to be done to Chandu?" Imran is happy to have Mahesh Bhatt on board. "Most 'real to reel' projects are driven by commercial motives but Mahesh Bhatt has been engaging himself with a view to addressing the contemporary issue of Naxalism and Maoism as all his life Chandu was drawing the attention of the nation that there would be violent consequences if India fails to grow with equity. There is no bigger threat to India's unity and integrity than the Naxalite and Maoist violence .What the nation is missing right now is the sanity of someone like Chandu to resolve the problem. Can we still take a leaf out of Chandu's life and ideology to address the issues of social unrest and check the disintegration of the country into chaos and turmoil?" Adds Mahesh Bhatt, "Well, I will be honest to say that happenings in JNU and other college campuses in the country have certainly been a catalyst for revival of the film on Chandu. It will be, however, wrong to say we are trying to do that at this point to leverage the restlessness that's so much visible inside the campus, in courts and has been making people to lock their horns in the social media. Chandu certainly had a message not just for his fellow students inside the campus but for the wider civil society. Unfortunately, over the years following his assassination that message evaporated. It's never been a commercial venture for me and all I wanted to revive and communicate that message. Of course, it's far more relevant in turbulent times that we are in right now than it was when we thought of shelving the project."

Even as Pakistan's Ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali explicitly stated that he won't return to India until things get better between the two countries, Mahesh Bhatt and his leading actor Imran Zahid continue their plans to stage a plain on Indo-Pak amity and have even invited Ghulam Ali to contribute a song to it.

Entitled Milne Do, the play addresses itself to the thorny issue of friendship between the two countries.

Says Imran Zahid, "For me, hope of peace is not just a few pictures and articles in newspapers but respecting, communicating with each other the way we are. I think that represents how educated we are, how liberal we are, how we want to work together and create peace and harmony." After Ghulam went on record to state he won't be performing in India, Imran rang him up to ask him to contribute a song in the play.

Says Imran happily, "Ghulam Ali Saab happily agreed. Music knows no boundaries. Ghulam Ali is as popular in India as Lataji is in Pakistan. Mumbai was once a very progressive city with a liberal tradition of cultural exchange, the decline of liberal thought in Mumbai coincides with the rise of the religious right." Imran feels there is no need for hostility between the people of the two countries. "We, as Indians, were treated so well in Pakistan when we went to stage our plays in Karachi and Lahore. It is sad that Mumbai is rather inhospitable to Pakistani artists. We firmly believe when everything fails to convert bitter hostile diplomatic relations between the two arch rivals, art and culture perhaps is the only genre that can do wonders for conversion of antagonistic relations into friendly and cordial relations." With Mahesh Bhatt involved, in the play Milne Do, a collaborative effort of actors from India and Pakistan, holds promise.

Says Imran, "Bhatt Saab has the rare ability to incorporate socially relevant, controversial themes and issues without compromising on artistic excellence. Bhatt Saab has been one of the most vocal supporters of the cultural exchange between India and Pakistan, and at the time of staging of Daddy in Karachi he said that be it television, film, theatre or fashion, he would support any activity that brings both nations closer." Milne Do will open in Delhi on April 24, at the Shri Ram center before traveling to other cities of India and Pakistan. "Laal band" from Pakistan has composed music and perform live during the play. Suhrita has written the story, who also written Hamari Adhuri Kahani .

Mahesh Bhatt, in an endeavour to find common ground between India and Pakistan, is all set to produce and present a play Milne Do. A collaborative effort of theatre actors from the two countries, the play is an intense love story between two culturally crossed individuals during times of abject hatred.

Mahesh's protege Imran Zahid will be playing an Indian boy who falls in love with a Pakistani girl The Pakistani girl will be played by Mehwish Hayat. Palash Sen of the band Euphoria is likely to create the music in collaboration with the Pakistani band Laal.

Imran is currently in Lahore with the play's director Danish Iqbal.

Speaking from Lahore, Imran said, "I am here in Lahore to finalize things for our next theatrical production Milne Do in collaboration with Pakistan theatre group AZAD and it will directed by Danish Iqbal (who directed the theatre version of Daddy ) and codirected by Malik Aslam of Azad Theatre. Two bands - one each from India and Pakistan - will also perform live when the play. The team will rehearse together in India and Pakistan; the play will open in March-end in Delhi and then Lahore." Adds Mahesh Bhatt, "I have always maintained that a movie or a play can be a greater vehicle of peace than all the lectures we give. Any message, if communicated through storytelling, touches a chord. We are also trying to do the same. This play will be an emotional transaction between industries on both sides. I have always crusaded for Indo-Pak peace through the cultural space. People used to criticize me when I first released films in Pakistan. But today you have got Pakistani soaps and shows playing successfully in India." Bhatt said the cultural exchanges between India and Pakistan, which he crusaded for years, will "eventually fulfill the dream of the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi of the two countries walking hand-in-hand. Not necessarily films, but the theatre is also a good medium through which message could be delivered. Messaging is not necessarily through one route. Yes, cinema has a mass audience. But like cinema, theatre could be one of the ways to make slow inroads into the consciousness of the people." Calling for deeper commercial investment between India and Pakistan, Bhatt said that the investments in any form would ensure "harmonious ties and peace between the two countries." "I think India and Pakistan are young countries and theatre is something which obsesses the young. People say I have utopian and unrealistic ideas about Indo-Pak relations I have a firm conviction that through the cultural space, India and Pakistan can bridge a lot of distances and one has one's own journey as evidence to prove that. When I began my crusade for stitching these gaps through movies, there were people heckling and sniggering and laughing, saying that it's an impossible dream. But the truth is that Indian movies are now being shown in Pakistan, and Pakistani soaps are being shown in India. There are actors and singers from that country working here, so we have moved light years ahead in just 10-11 years."

25 years after it was first released, the staged version of Mahesh Bhatt's Daddy was shown in Delhi at the Shri Ram Centre Mandi House on August 4 and 5 and it left the audience roused and over-whelmed.

The play version of Daddy which has the Mahesh Bhatt protege Imran Zahid playing Anupam Kher's role, and two young Delhi actresses Tanya and Simran playing Pooja Bhatt's role at two different stages of the narration, was attended by Mahesh Bhatt and Pooja Bhatt who came away completely moved.

Pooja Bhatt broke down during the play. Says Pooja, "It was sincere and moving. I realized again, not for the first time, that nothing beats a powerful narrative.

Daddy had such a moving story. It is relevant to date." The film was based on Mahesh Bhatt's own battle with alcoholism and his tender relationship with his eldest born Pooja Bhatt. Mahesh's best friend Anupam Kher had played Mahesh Bhatt.

Now in the stage version when Imran Zahid took over the role he desisted from watching Anupam's performance. "I wanted my interpretation of the character to be my own, and no one else's. I am glad to say we had a great show. Pooja Bhatt got emotional as she watched her own character come alive." Some of the famous songs from the film Daddy sung by Talat Aziz were also used in the play. When asked, Mahesh Bhatt reacted to the play saying, "It was flawed, rough but innocent and moving."

The iconic Iraqi 'shoe-thrower' journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi, who hit global headlines when he threw a shoe of protest at George Bush, has gotten in touch with Mahesh Bhatt and actor Imran Zahid offering to negotiate on behalf of the Indian government for the release of the 40 abducted Indians who've been taken hostage by Iraqi militants.

Muntadhar has a special affinity to India, especially since Mahesh Bhatt wrote the play The Last Salute in which Imran Zahid played Muntadhar's role. Muntadhar has since then maintained close ties with Bhatt and Imran.

Says Imran Zahid, "Muntadhar and his wife got in touch with me and Mahesh Bhatt saab offering to negotiate with the militants for the release of the hostage. As you know, Muntadhar's journalistic voice is heard very strongly in Iraq and the Middle East. He has clearly told us he will negotiate with the militants on behalf of the Indian government provided he is given an official letter from the Indian government to do the same." Muntadhar has clearly stated to Imran Zahid, "I am ready to go to go to the conflict zones and negotiate with the kidnappers. I'm ready to go to Iraq to mediate for the release of hostages and wait for the power of attorney from the Indian government. And I will make every effort to free hostages I hope to see them return to their families safely." Now Imran and Mahesh Bhatt are in the process of informing the Indian government of Muntadhar's offer.

Says Mahesh Bhatt, "Muntadhar is an icon in that part of the world. It is the duty of every Indian to rise to the occasion and do his bit to tide over this bizarre crisis." Bhatt saab intends to inform the Indian government of Muntadhar's generous offer. "All one can do is to put Muntadhar in touch with those who are handling the crisis and leave them to decide how they can effectively use his services to resolve the tragic deadlock," states the film industry's most vocal and effectual representative.