Tracing the journey of Iqbal on stage

A new play aims at demystifying the strange persona of Allama Iqbal and in the process bring into light many little-known facts of the poet-philosopher who is best known for his iconic Urdu song 'Saare jahan se achcha.'
"Sir Iqbal" is Delhi-based Pierrot's Troupe's latest play which will have its first public show here this Sunday.
Co-written and co-directed by M Sayeed Alam and Danish Iqbal, it portrays the life of Iqbal - the writer of 'Saare jahan se achcha' and the progenitor of the idea of Pakistan; someone claimed by both India and Pakistan as their as their very own as their very special.

Set up in backdrop of the first half of the 20th century, the play mirrors the literary, cultural and political life of the country till the time of the death of this 'Poet of the East' in 1938 in undivided India.
"This will be the first public show of the play which we wrote last year. It was staged last year in Kolkata but that was hosted at the initiative of the Minority Affairs Department of the West Bengal government," says Alam who heads the Pierrot's Troupe.
"In the play, Iqbal's story is narrated by his trusted servant Ali Baksh who was very close to him and knew many things about the poet," Alam told PTI.

One of the little-known facts about Iqbal was that he could not see out of his right eye, he says.

"There is also an interesting story behind the gold medal that was awarded to him by the Government College Lahore. He secured only a third division but was given the medal as he was the only student in that category," claims Alam.
He says the basis of these nuggets is a number of materials on Iqbal in both India and Pakistan.
The role of Iqbal is enacted by Alam while Harish Chhabra plays the servant in the one-and-a-half-hour play. Among the other actors are Niti Phool, Anju Chhabra, Dawood Yaqub, Ratan Bhatia, Vibhav Srivastava and Jaskiran Chopra.