01 October,2017 01:21 PM IST | Mumbai | Iqbal Niyazi
Veteran theatre director Iqbal Niyazi recalls Tom Alter's love for the Urdu language and how he nurtured it with his art
My association with Tom saab began 10 years ago, when we worked together on two Urdu productions I was directing. Ghalib Rang, where Tom saab and Juhi Babbar read letters to Ghalib; and Rang Aur Noor ki Baat, Saahir ke Saath, on the life and work of iconic poet and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi. A great admirer of Ludhianvi's work that he was, I still remember how he added his personal touch to the script.
In stark contrast to the cinematic roles of a British national that he often portrayed, he was more Indian than many of us. His knowledge of Urdu was extraordinary; his pronunciation so immaculate, it would put scholars of the language to shame. After all, Urdu was a language he was born into and his father was his first Urdu teacher. After Partition, while his grandparents chose to stay back in Pakistan, his father picked the hills of Uttarakhand. An American missionary, it is said, he would read the Holy Bible in Urdu.
He became further proficient in Urdu when he moved to Bombay and joined Beg Mohammad High School in Masjid Bunder. He would take Urdu lessons from Jalib Mazahiri, who got him interested in sher-o-shayari. He once met Dilip Kumar and sought his advice on the ingredients of good acting. "Read shayari," said the man, and it further cemented his love for Urdu. He loved the word afsha (to refer to brightness), and that's what he named his daughter.
A down-to-earth person, ego had no role to play in his life. He talked with as much warmth and respect to the spotboy on set, as he would to co-actor Deepti Naval. He worked extensively with Sayeed Alam's Delhi-based Pierrot's Troupe, and every time the group came down to Mumbai, he would open the doors of his home to host every crew member.
In the last few years when I would meet him, he used to get very nostalgic about his birthplace, Mussoorie. I wanted to do a play on Faiz Ahmad Faiz with him, which never came to fruition. His passing is a huge loss to Urdu theatre. He was also planning to write an autobiography, and in Urdu, of course. That would have been a masterpiece.
As told to Snigdha Hasan
