Abu Dhabi: Ibrahim Hamad Ali Al Qadi, a Saudi-born playwright and director who knows the history of Indian theatre, died Tuesday at the age of 95, Saudi media reported.
Al Qadi, described as the dean of theatrical culture and director who redefined the Indian theatre, born in Pune, about 148 km from Mumbai in 1925.
During the influx of Persian Gulf investors, some traders from Najd and Hejaz settled in the cities of Surat and Mumbai (formerly Bombay) seeking to interact in advertising activities. Some of them have settled in other indigenous peoples, leaving a strong social, cultural and economic presence.
Among investors in the Persian Gulf the merchant Hamad bin Ali Al Qadi, the father of Ibrahim Al Qadi.
The father was born in the Qassim region in the 19th century. His uncles sent him to Mumbai, where he began running for a relative of Bassam’s circle of relatives in the tea industry before embarking on textiles and spices.
Trader Hamad spent part of his life traveling between India, Turkey, Kuwait, Bahrain and Lebanon to practice his trade. After marrying a daughter from Nisar’s circle of relatives, who spoke fluent Marathi, Gujarati, Arabic and English, he moved to Pune and had nine children, adding Ibrahim.
Dance and music
Ibrahim Al Qadi (pronounced Alkazi in India) learned the Charleston and Chaturthi dances in a space where the patriarch taught the English language, while scholars taught Koranic sciences and women were home-educated.
He liked music, especially the songs of um Kulthum and Barber Seville, and had a fondness for Indian songs. He also learned to play the piano with an expert (Hindu priest) and gained a devout Islamic upbringing that also opened up to a non-Islamic setting.
Al Qadi, a pioneer in theatrical production and theatre teaching in India through the incorporation of the founder and director of the National School of Dramatic Art, as well as the founder of the Al Qadi Foundation for the Arts in New Delhi.
He attended St. Vincent’s Pune School and attended st. Xavier College in Mumbai. He went to London to pursue higher education and entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts at the age of 21, after borrowing 25,000 Indian rupees. He later joined the British Drama Forum.
Ibrahim Al Qadi and Nehru
While in London, he studied Greek, Egyptian, Assyrian, Sumerian, modern art and fine arts and discovered the life of geniuses in the world of theatre. He also won a special offer from the London Theatre Company, but turned down the offer and returned the house to Mumbai in 1954.
“I seriously looked for painting in Indian theater and pursued a career for India and the Indians,” he said. He made the resolution after assembly with Indian leader and Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who on an official scale in Britain.
Nehru was inspired by Ibrahim’s enthusiasm and perseverance and asked him to return to the capital, Delhi, after completing his studies to discover a theatre company. This gave him freedom in his selection of paintings and gave him access to the other people with which he was looking for paintings.
The prime minister also promised Ibrahim that he would be exempt from duties and taxes and that it would help him create a theatre library after the opening of a theatre that would be built using generations and would be worthy of Indian civilization.
Nehru kept his promise. Upon his return to Delhi, Al Qadi was very well received and won an invitation from the Indian Ministry of Education to create the National Drama College, which then expanded to offer a three-year certificate and education in theatrical arts, which attracted academics from all countries. contributed to a cultural revolution in Delhi.
Nehru, who was interested in culture, was incredibly willing to invite visitors to India (from high-ranking officials to celebrities from around the world) to attend the works of Ibrahim Al Qadi, who built his reputation.
Management skills
The National Theatre School was founded in 1959, modeled after the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Al Qadi was entrusted with the management of the institution. He first refused, posing an experience of lack of control, but two years later he replaced his brain and assumed control, a position he held for 15 years (1962-1977).
Al Qadi was linked to the establishment of the Bombay Progressive Artists Group. He has also been director of the National Academy of Dramatic Theatre and has trained renowned theater artists such as Om Shipuri, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Manohar Singh and many others.
When asked about the creation of theatre in India, Al Qadi said: “My purpose is to create a theatrical company with the roots of theatre in India. I tried to notice talents that led me to notice to people like Dev Patel, Firoz Cooper, Hamed Siami, Dereck Jeffries, Osha Amine, Jerson Dickon and Manohar Patel.
The band has featured some of the world’s most popular works, such as Corpse Last Tip, Murder in the Cathedral by TS Elliot. “During this time, I gained control and studied ancient Indian tools for use in rooms like Iyengar yoga and Kathakali,” he said.
Al Qadi has won major Indian government awards for outstanding service, adding india’s 19th Civilian Award, Padam Shri, as well as Padma Bushan, Padma Vibushan and the Oscar for The Dance and Music Academy.
He also won an honorary doctorate from Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata, such as the Kalidas Award from the Madhya Pradesh government, the Times Forum and Talent Living Wealth Award in Mumbai, and the Delhi government’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
Arab roots
Al Qadi spoke proudly of its Arab roots, a prominent Indian communication screen broadcast through Indian RSTV. He noted: “My roots get bigger in Saudi Arabia, but the richest years of my life were the ones I spent in Pune, where I was born and raised. What I learned from my parents, from the Jesuit school, along with the rich life of the region, contributed to the progression of who I am today.”
He said that his father was a self-taught and that wherever he went, he enriched his libraries, which included encyclopedias and books in Arabic and English. “He is also an avid reader of the latest newspapers and magazines in the Arab world. We heard about Naguib Mahfouz long before he won the Nobel Prize,” he said.
Al Qadi also spoke of his circle of relatives and his aspiration for his homeland: “At first, my father worked with Bassam’s circle of relatives, who was one of the Arab pioneers of the tea trade, but became an independent businessman and did business, textiles, tea and other products.
“My father, a company believer in our Arab cultural roots dating back to Saudi Arabia. At home, we were only speaking Arabic and my Arab and Islamic study instructor came here from Saudi Arabia and lived with us as part of our family,” he said. Said.
In Pune, where his father arrived in 1905, important Iraqi horse races were held that attracted Arab merchants, whose father controlled to befriend Arabs and non-Arabs, allowing him to establish himself and identify a new identity that departed from his original roots.
Al Qadi joined the Sultan Padamase Theatre Group in Mumbai, the pioneer of the English theatrical movement in India. He participated in the Anti-British indian and pro-liberation movement in the 1930s and 1940s, along with Indians and citizens of Pune.
Al Qadi has organized more than 150 exhibitions, published books, supported and encouraged many young talents by publishing their work. He also established the Al Qadi End of the Arts in New Delhi to maintain more than 90,000 elements of Indian heritage and acquired infrequent photographs for more than 30 years to serve researchers and stakeholders, but also identified the ancient importance of emerging generations.
Famous pieces
The maximum pieces produced through Al Qadi come with A Blind Era, In a Bleak Day, A Rainy Day, Closed and others. His play A Blind Era revolutionized Indian theatre and caused a sensation among intellectuals.
The call Al Qadi is synonymous with Indian theater. His is characterized by a set of Indian, Arabic and Islamic cultures, which he acquired from his Arabic teacher and his father, who provided him with a library full of rare Arabic books in India, as well as classics of Arabic literature.
His cultural openness arises from his upbringing in a tolerant and varied environment that broke the barriers of cultural and ethnic differences, making him a charismatic figure who revolutionized Indian theatre, adding its production, teachings and systematic paradigm.
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