'Sons of Babur' presents an entertaining, informative and aesthetic account of the ‘Worlds’ of Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb as seen from far-off Rangoon by the last and deposed Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar. The play seamlessly connects the present to the past, an introspection of the Mughal era and a unique reading of Indian history. Sons of Babur was temporarily shelved owing to various logistical issues.
The play will be performed in the main auditorium of the India International Centre at 6 p.m. on 26 May 2023. The masterpiece was written on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of 1857, and much research went into it. I consulted almost all the relevant historical sources and went into all the different viewpoints about Mughal history.
Finally, the play has now been revived, and the unanimous choice for the lead role was Sayeed Alam of Pierrot's Troupe, who has admirably filled Tom Saheb’s shoes. As part of the revival, the first show of the play in the last winter was on a bitterly cold evening in New Delhi; the audience was left mesmerized and rose to give a standing ovation.
About Sons of Babur
The play is especially about Bahadur Shah Zafar and 1857. It is not a historian's point of view but that of a tragic king and poet analysing the Mughal past. The protagonist is a Bengali history student who deeply understands Bangla nationalism. In a state of hallucination, he meets Zafar and witnesses Mughal history and the events of 1857 from Zafar's perspective. Zafar has no over-sentimental attachment to his ancestors and analyses them objectively, sometimes even ruthlessly. Even the events of 1857, the tide of which engulfed him and his kingdom with it, are dissected quite clinically by him. Towards the end of the play, the protagonist calls Zafar the 'last Mughal emperor'. Quickly, Zafar corrects him, calling himself the 'first democratically elected emperor of India', showing foresight about the coming days of democracy.
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