Thakur
Banned
- Joined
- 30 Aug 2013
- Messages
- 14,856
- Reaction score
- 8,575
MUMBAI: About 800 years ago, Razia Sultana (Razziya al-din) broke all conventions by becoming the first queen of India, the first queen of the Delhi Sultanate.
It is this inspirational aspect that piqued the interest of Swastik Productions’ Siddharth Tewary. Basking in the success of his recent mythological ‘Mahabharat’ for Star Plus, Tewary and his wife writer Gayatri sat deep in discussion on their next venture when the name Razia Sultana cropped up.
Razia apparently refused to be addressed as Sultana because it meant ‘wife or mistress of a sultan’. She would answer only to the title ‘Sultan.’
Interestingly, the character of Razia Sultana, or Razia Sultan, as she preferred to be known, is one such that has not been explored much by filmmakers or TV producers and programmers. In 1961, ‘Razia Sultan’ was essayed by Nirupa Roy and the film reportedly had strong performances.
This was followed in 1983 by Kamal Amrohi’s ‘Razia Sultan’ starring Hema Malini in the lead role. Although not a commercial success, the movie was widely appreciated for its screenplay, dialogues, and direction. Now, 32 years after Amrohi’s film, Razia has made her way onto television.
To make the story look more authentic, Tewary did not see the films made on the queen previously. “I didn’t see the film on the subject released in 1983. I just saw some parts on YouTube and forwarded it.
I don’t like to get coloured because then you are constantly comparing it and I don’t want to do that,” he states. According to Tewary, it is a challenge to make a Muslim historical.
“I think this is the first Muslim historical after Tipu Sultan. When you get into the Muslim world, there is a different way of telling the story and there is a lot of learning involved.
There are nuances like speech and behaviour that make it very risky as anyone can take offence.” The production house has thus taken a very different route in presenting the character of Razia.
She is not a regular warrior who takes out a sword and fights. The show is about the making of a queen; a girl who had normal dreams but slowly realised that women need to be stronger.
How she stands up for her people and changes things, until her father turns around and tells her she is better than his sons. Of the two films made, the Nirupa Roy version showcased the Altunia-Razia love story, while the Hema Malini film presented the Yakut-Razia love story.
Read more at:
http://www.televisionpost.com/tvp-special/the-making-of-razia-sultan/
It is this inspirational aspect that piqued the interest of Swastik Productions’ Siddharth Tewary. Basking in the success of his recent mythological ‘Mahabharat’ for Star Plus, Tewary and his wife writer Gayatri sat deep in discussion on their next venture when the name Razia Sultana cropped up.
Razia apparently refused to be addressed as Sultana because it meant ‘wife or mistress of a sultan’. She would answer only to the title ‘Sultan.’
Interestingly, the character of Razia Sultana, or Razia Sultan, as she preferred to be known, is one such that has not been explored much by filmmakers or TV producers and programmers. In 1961, ‘Razia Sultan’ was essayed by Nirupa Roy and the film reportedly had strong performances.
This was followed in 1983 by Kamal Amrohi’s ‘Razia Sultan’ starring Hema Malini in the lead role. Although not a commercial success, the movie was widely appreciated for its screenplay, dialogues, and direction. Now, 32 years after Amrohi’s film, Razia has made her way onto television.
To make the story look more authentic, Tewary did not see the films made on the queen previously. “I didn’t see the film on the subject released in 1983. I just saw some parts on YouTube and forwarded it.
I don’t like to get coloured because then you are constantly comparing it and I don’t want to do that,” he states. According to Tewary, it is a challenge to make a Muslim historical.
“I think this is the first Muslim historical after Tipu Sultan. When you get into the Muslim world, there is a different way of telling the story and there is a lot of learning involved.
There are nuances like speech and behaviour that make it very risky as anyone can take offence.” The production house has thus taken a very different route in presenting the character of Razia.
She is not a regular warrior who takes out a sword and fights. The show is about the making of a queen; a girl who had normal dreams but slowly realised that women need to be stronger.
How she stands up for her people and changes things, until her father turns around and tells her she is better than his sons. Of the two films made, the Nirupa Roy version showcased the Altunia-Razia love story, while the Hema Malini film presented the Yakut-Razia love story.
Read more at:
http://www.televisionpost.com/tvp-special/the-making-of-razia-sultan/
