Sahib Bibi aur Guru Dutt: The Musical was presented to the New England audience on September 7^th, 2013 at Keefe technical School, Framingham. This unique event was unlike any presented in the New England area and combined little-known the story of his life with scenes from his films and the amazing songs from his movies in a seamless presentation. Audiovisual and engaging narration added to the ambience of the event which recreated an environment of multi-dimentionality and an experience of seeing a film on stage.

The story was conceived by Meena Sundaram, who has been researching this topic for over 2 years and who wrote the script and produced it. The Musical was directed by Ram Ramakrishnan and Production Support and Sound was provided by Jawed Wahid.

The organizing committee included Rajeev Kumar( Snehalaya), Siraj Khan( Song advisor), Kumkum Pareek  Malik( Stage Design), Gauri Chandna( Publicity), Pankaj Shah( Publicity), Pratibha Shah( Ticketing), Razia Mashkoor( Costume coordinator), Shekhar Shastri( creative input, lighting, score ), Vijay Kumar( Creative input, AV), Sneh Jaisingh( Stage design), Pratibha Shah(Ticketing), Harish Dang( Publicity).

 Many well  known actors and singers in the area participated in this event and a large  team worked on various aspects of the show including Audiovisual, stage design, Reception, ticketing and Lights. Please see names of our entire team below. A unique feature of this event was many South Asian painters who created  one-of-a-kind paintings based on Guru Dutt’s films; these painters generously donated their work in a silent auction with a large part of the proceeds to benefit Snehalaya.

The event was well-attended and was deeply appreciated  for its innovativeness and creative presentation of this remarkable man, his unique mark on Indian cinema and the legacy of his vision and approach to filmmaking. The team attempted to highlight Guru Dutt’s life marked both by his amazing achievements in movie-making and complex personal life. He incorporated music and storytelling in a fascinating weave which was  both thought-provoking and endearing. The audience was drawn into the story of this complex man and responded with rapt attention and applause.

Here are a few comments from the delighted audience

“Amazing, amazing and amazing...so much talent in this part of the country...thank you all for all your hard work and making it a memorable evening for us all...”

“This was a VERY daring attempt to put together the concept and to materialize the concept into something so beautiful. Great song selection, great theme, great artists and GREAT CAUSE! If I were to think the unthinkable , I would say, Go Broadway!”

“Congratulations to the entire crew! It was an awesome show so glad I was there to witness this monumental effort. It has reminded me of how much I have loved Guru Dutt's movies and now I am very committed to start viewing them again. THANK YOU!”

$5000 was raised in this event and proceeds were donated to Snehalaya featured in Aamir Khan’s TV show Satyamev Jayate.  Snehalaya, based in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India, supports empowering and rehabilitating over 2100 commercial sex workers to lead a better life, providing medical treatment for over 6000 HIV + men and women every year, managing a 24x7 Child line and rescue operations, regularly saving children and women from abuse, facilitating adoption and placement of hundreds of infants into good families. www.snehalaya.org.

Team of Sahib Bibi aur Guru Dutt the Musical:

Directed by: Ram Ramakrishnan

Written and Produced by: Meena Sundaram

Production and creative support: Jawed Wahid, Vijay Kumar, Shekhar Shastri

Painters: Premi John, Java Joshi, Priti Lathia, Cheema Nasrullah, Lalitha Ramakrishnana, Sunanda Sahay, Hanneke Van Walsem

Singers: Shekhar Shastri, Sankar Gangaikondan, Dilip Acharya, Pankaj Shah, Sharanya Sarkar Verma, Nalini Krishnan, Meena Sundaram

Narrator: Malik Khan

Actors: Shekhar Shastri, Subhojit Banerjee, Ajay Jain, Dhanashree Ramachandran, Siraj Khan, Harish Dang, Nikita Rao, Puneesh Chaudhry, Gauri Chandna, Pubali Banerjee, Kumkum Pareek Malik, Sapna Aggarwal, Pallavi Nagesha, Vanita Shastri, Ajay Jaisingh, Sanjay Jain, Lubaina Buxamusa, Monisha Prakash. Supporting actors: Venki Nagesha, Kedar Bangalore, Ravi Nimmagadda, Sankar Gangaikondan, Bachu Malik, Mihir Murthi, Aniruddh Nagesha.

Sound : Jawed Wahid

Song advisor: Siraj Khan

Stage director: Kumkum Pareek Malik with assistance from Rita Advani, Raja and Prashanth

Costume Coordinator:  Razia Mashkoor assisted by Shazia Ashraf

Brochure: Maithili Rao

Audiovisuals and Background score: Vijay Kumar, Karthik Viswanathan, Jawed Wahid, Shekhar Shastri, Jawed Wahid, Meena Sundaram

Lights: Sujit Potdar, Amit Srivastava, Ritesh Bansal, Shekhar Shastri, Kamal Khanna

Stage Design: Sneh Jaisingh, Mala Ganesan, Maithili Rao, Shobha Ganesan, Mihir Murthi, Arya Murthi, Suhas Ganesan

Lobby Design: Lalitha Ramakrishnan, Mala Ganesan

Green Room: Jaya Pandey

Publicity and Media support: Gauri Chandna and Foundations TV, Pankaj Shah, Gunjan Radio, Sounds of India, Boston Desi Connection, Lokvani, India New England, TV Asia

Snehalaya team: Rajeev Kumar, Ravi Shetty, Monika Sachdeva, Kamal Khanna, Ritesh Bansal, Uma Sankar.

Video: Anand Parikh and Jawed Wahid

Photography: Alok Asoor , Malini Varadarajan , Pankaj Shah

Ticketing: Pratibha Shah, Avinash Agarwal, Barbara Cargnana, Ilina Shah

Reception and ushering: Rohini Pola, Monika Sachdeva, Rajdeep Banerjee, Anish Sundaram, Gaurav Jaisingh, Ayush Srivastava.

Silent auction coordinator: Sundaram Laxman

Special Thanks: Masala Art and Shri Vinod Kapoor, Shobha Shastry and Alankar, our many volunteers and sponsors (Dr. Nandana Kansra, West Suburban Cardiology and LearnQuest Baithak)

Please enjoy this poem by Shekhar Shastri

गुरु, तुम शान से आये

गुरु, तुम आये, शान से आये, नई महक सी आई गुलज़ारों से
आर-पार करती निक्की, तो डोरे डालती हुई नीना से
तूफ़ानी मरिया से, तो कभी डगमगाती माशूका मीना से
बिस्कुटी अक़्लमन्द अनीता से और पूची ढूँढती हुई जमीला से
हृदय में बसने वाली छोटी बहू, तो कभी शरारती जबा से
ख़्वाबों को बुनती हुई शांति, तो अंधेरों में घूमती गुलाबो से
महीनों से चलता हुआ सिलसिला तो ठहर गया
फिर भी ग़ुफ़्तुगू चलती रही दो रातों से

फूल काग़ज़ के थे - न खिल पाये, प्यासा पुकारता रहा वीरानों में
साहिब बाज़ी हार गये, बीवी पहुँच गई दिल-औ-दिमाग़ों में
गुरु, तुम आये, शान से आये, छलक आ गई पैमाने में
मीना का ख़्वाब तो हुआ पूरा, तुम फिर छा गये दीवानों में

Guru tum Shaan se Aaye

Guru tum Aaye, Shaan say Aaye, nayee mehak si Aayee gulzaaron mein
Aar-Paar karati Nikki, to doray dalati huyee Nina say
Toofaani Maria say, to kabhi dagmagati maashooka Meena say
Biscutee aklamand Anita say, aur poochi dhoondhti huyee Jameela say
Hriday mein basnay vali Chhoti Bahu, to kabhi sharaarati Jabaa say
Khwabon ko bunati huyee Shanti, to andheron mein ghoomati huyee Gulabo say
Maheenon say chalata hua silsila to thahar gayaa
Phir bhi guftagu chalati rahi do raaton say.

Phool kaagaz ke thay, na khil paaye, Pyaasa pukarata rahaa viraano mein
Sahib Baazi haar gaye, biwi pahunch gayee Dil-o-dimagon mein
Guru tum Aaye, Shaan say Aaye, chhalak Aa gayee Paimaane mein
Meena ka khwab to hua poora, tum phir chha gaye deewanon mein.

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