Moinul Haque’s mime show at Rabindra Bhawan last year

March 5: Mime artiste Moinul Haque is not quite impressed with flyovers, highrises, malls, high-end restaurants that the city has come to epitomise. Because he has seen the flip side of progress.

This unprecedented growth, Haque believes, has come to mean greed for more money and materialistic gains among a section of the population. His next play, Paisa, will simply reflect that reality.

Haque claimed that Paisa would bring into the proscenium a slice of life from the city, although the message of the play is universal. He, however, is yet to decide on the venue for the play, which will be staged sometime in June.

Haque said he would like to stage the play earlier, “but there are certain difficulties because of which I had to keep it for June. If the situation changes, I will stage it around Bihu”.

“We artistes always look at things from a different perspective. It is welcoming that the city is growing in terms of infrastructure and facilities. But, unfortunately, growth on the moral front has declined. The residents have become more materialistic. They only want to become rich, so that they can have all kinds of luxury,” said Haque.

“My forthcoming play, Paisa, has been influenced by this trend in Guwahati. It will be a journey on the current ‘life and living’ of the city.”

The department of tourism and culture, Government of India, has sponsored the play.

Veteran theatre personality Kulada Kumar Bhattacharyya said socio-political issues could be well narrated through mime plays, as the art is a very provocative medium of expression.

“Haque has been doing pioneering work in the medium and I am sure he will incorporate some new elements into his new play.”

Haque’s last production, Puppet, a political satire staged at the proscenium of Rabindra Bhawan last year, received much appreciation from critics.

Haque also founded the Mime Academy in the city in 1991. It is the only institute of its kind in the entire region and conducts a one-year diploma course in mime art.

Haque was also awarded a senior fellowship on mime by the ministry of tourism and culture in 2000.

The 50-year-old mime artiste never received any formal training in the art and started as a mono actor in the group “sound and comedy” in 1976. It was only in 1980 that he started doing mime after reading the Bengali book Mukhabhinaya — Tatwa Bidhi by Shyam Mohan Chakravarty.