A sublime, lyrical yet unrealised true love story, the relationship between poets Sahir Ludhianvi and Amrita Pritam has been immortalised in the multi-lingual play Ek Mulaqat, written and directed by Saif Hyder Hasan. Based on a single, fateful meeting between the two poets, the play is replete with the drama of unrequited love and presents the absorbing emotional journey of two kindred souls attracted to each other. A t2 chat with celebrated stage and screen actor Shekhar Suman, who essays the role of Sahir Ludhianvi in a performance of the much-acclaimed play, organised by Sanskriti Sagar at GD Birla Sabhagar tomorrow.

Tell us something about your journey with this play.

Deepti Naval, who portrayed Amrita Pritam, and I started performing Ek Mulaqat in 2014, which went on continuously for three years. We performed at many theatre festivals in India and abroad. Then there was a lull and then Covid happened. Now it has been revived but without Deepti as she is busy writing her book. Now we have an actor called Geetika Tyagi playing her part and last month we performed our first show in Mumbai.

Are you excited about performing in Calcutta?

Yes, of course. Calcutta always has the most discerning audience and are known for being deeply rooted to their culture. It is the ideal play for them because it is so close to literature. The city has a very responsive audience who take their literature, music and the arts very seriously. Theatre needs the right audience.

You have enacted this role several times. Did you try to bring anything new to the role or to reinterpret it differently this time?

Unlike films, theatre allows you to go on improvising in every performance. You can add a dimension or remove something that you think is superfluous or is not working. The play that we had staged in the first phase was perfect in every sense. Now, we have only cosmetically changed the look of the show. It is 2025, and so we have a LED screen in the background projecting images of the play’s environment, with moon and stars and so on, to enhance the scene. We have also added a background score. So it is pretty much the same play but will give a quite different experience at the same time.

Also, this time Geetika plays Amrita Pritam instead of Deepti and she has the onus of trying to move on with the legacy of what Deepti left behind. I think she has done a fantastic job and has picked up the character very quickly.

What do you think are the challenges of portraying such a legendary literary figure?

Oh, enormous. First of all, you have to play it just right and get into the mind of the character. So you paint a picture of him from what you have read or heard about him, and then try to create that character as you imagine him to be.

I have grown up on Sahir saab’s literature and verses. So obviously it was easier for me. He was a complex character. He had his dark elements, was a non-conformist, anti-establishment in his views, and a maverick. He took on the system and had a kind of pathological hatred for set ideas and notions. So he broke all that. To be that character who was reticent — spoke less, wrote more, with a slight leaning towards the Left — I think it makes for a beautiful character for any actor to play. There is not much footage available on him, so I collected information from those who knew him, about how he sat, walked. It helped me greatly to recreate and construct an image of Sahir saab.

How do you think the new generation of audience will accept this play and in what way do you think it is relatable to them?

The depth of a relationship. I think that is something very important that the youth of today must understand. Ghosting, breadcrumbing, situationship and such other funny terms that define relationships between two people, suggest that they are very casual, whimsical and even transactional about relationships. The relationship shown in this play is a bit like a tightrope walk, but what is important is how they maintained its dignity.

Society needs to know about this couple and their love story and how an unfulfilled story like theirs could remain so beautiful till the end. Though Amrita Pritam is married and had another amorous relationship with Imroz, Amrita and Sahir saab conveyed their love through poetry and lyricism. Their kind of respect, love and loyalty is very rare these days. It is the kind of love you will be remembered for when you are dead and have withered away.