Feroz Abbas Khan

Not to be confused with Feroz Khan the actor, director, and producer.

Feroz Abbas Khan
Feroz Abbas Khan, IFFI (2011)
Born	1959
Occupation(s)	playwright, theatre director, film director, screenwriter
Website	www.ferozkhan.com/fz_feroz.htm

Feroz Abbas Khan is an Indian theatre and film director, playwright and screenwriter, who is most known for directing plays like Mughal-e-Azam, Saalgirah, Tumhari Amrita (1992), Salesman Ramlal and Gandhi Viruddh Gandhi.^[1][2]

Khan being felicitated at IFFI (2011)

Career

He was the first artistic director of the Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai and in 1983 was head of the Prithvi Theatre Festival with Jennifer Kapoor and Akash Khurana. He started with productions like the early comedy All the Best and Saalgirah (1993), written by playwright Javed Siddiqui with Anupam Kher and Kirron Kher, which incidentally became her first acting performance during her comeback after a sabbatical.^[3] In 1992, American playwright and novelist, A. R. Gurney's play Love Letters was adapted to Urdu as Tumhari Amrita and given an Indian context by Javed Siddiqi. It was performed by veteran actors Shabana Azmi and Farooq Sheikh at the Jennifer Kapoor Festival in Prithvi theatre in February 1992 for the first time. For one-and-a-half hours, the actors read the letters describing the relationship between two friends Amrita and Zulfikar over a period of 35 years. For the next 21 years till Farooque Shaikh's death in December 2013, this immensely successful play went on to tour many parts of the world including US, Europe and Pakistan.^[4]

Khan's production of Peter Shaffer's satirical comedy, The Royal Hunt of the Sun and the contemporary Indian adaptation of Arthur Miller's classic Death of a Salesman, 'Salesman Ramlal' (1997), starring actor-director Satish Kaushik are important plays of Indian theatre.^[5][6] Next came English theatre production of Mahatma v/s Gandhi, based on relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his son, Harilal Gandhi.

In 2007, he made his film debut with Gandhi, My Father, based on his one previous play, Mahatma vs Gandhi, and opened to critical acclaim.^[7] At the National Film Award, actor Darshan Zariwala won the Best Supporting Actor Award, for his role of Gandhi, while the film itself won the Special Jury Award and Best Screenplay^[8][9][10] and the Best Screenplay Award at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and nominated for Grand Prix at Tokyo Film Festival.

Also in 2007, he added Abbas as his middle name to avoid confusion with Bollywood actor-director, Feroze Khan.^[11]

While, his play, Salesman Ramlal was revived in 2009, with a more contemporary version, another classic, Tumhari Amrita was performed for no less than 21 years till December 2013 when main actor Farooque Shaikh died. The last show was held in the Taj Mahal, Agra. ^[12][13]

In 2016, he directed Mughal-e-Azam, a Broadway-style musical based on the 1960 Bollywood film Mughal-e-Azam, which was directed by K. Asif and produced by Shapoorji Pallonji. The musical was produced jointly by Shapoorji Pallonji Group and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (India).^[14]

In March 2023, Khan will open his Civilization to Nation: The Journey of Our Nation in the new 2,000-seat Grand Theatre at Mumbai's Jio World Centre.^[15]

Plays

• Raunaq & Jassi
• All the Best
• Eva Mumbai Ma Chaal Jaiye
• Saalgirah – Anupam Kher & Kirron Kher
• The Royal Hunt of the Sun
• Tumhari Amrita (1992) – Shabana Azmi & Farooq Sheikh
• Mahatma vs Gandhi (1998)
• Salesman Ramlal (1999) – Satish Kaushik
• Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai – Anupam Kher
• Dinner With Friends (2011) (Tisca Chopra, Vinay Jain, Joy Sengupta & Perizaad Zorabian Irani)

Mughal-E-Azam - The Musical The Great Indian Musical - Civilisation To Nation

Filmography

• Gandhi, My Father (2007)
• Dekh Tamasha Dekh(2014)

References

1. 'Gandhiji hasn't been portrayed negatively' Rediff.com Movies, 3 August 2007.
2. "Feroz Khan". Times of India. 11 December 2002.
3. Once more, with feeling Archived 10 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
4. Writing its own destiny Archived 11 September 2012 at archive.today Screen, Namita Nivas, 28 November 2008.
5. Salesman Ramlal in Mumbai The Times of India, 6 September 2009.
6. Satish Kaushik wants to extend his "global profile" Archived 14 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine Financial Express, 17 September 2009.
7. A Humanizing Portrait of the Man Indians Call 'Father' Washington Post, 15 August 2007.
8. National Film Awards: Southern films bag top honours The Times of India, 8 September 2009.
9. Interview: Feroze Abbas Khan^{[dead link‍]} Screen, 3 August 2007.
10. "55th NATIONAL FILM AWARDS FOR THE YEAR 2007" (PDF). Press Information Bureau (Govt. of India).
11. The namesake Mid-Day, 10 July 2007."Theatre personality Feroz Khan, who makes his directorial debut with Gandhi My Father, has added Abbas to his name to avoid confusion"
12. Their letters won our hearts The Times of India, TNN 21 January 2009.
13. In The Name of the Father Archived 30 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine Indian Express, Ddebeshbanerjee, 12 September 2009.
14. "'Mughal-e-Azam': An Audacious Screen-to-Stage Adaptation Of The K. Asif Classic". HuffPost India. 12 September 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
15. "India's First Multi-Disciplinary Cultural Centre in Mumbai to Open March of 2023". 12 October 2022.

External links

• Feroz Khan, Official Webpage
• Feroz Abbas Khan at IMDb