Feroz Abbas Khan is an Indian theatre and film director, playwright and screenwriter, who is most known for directing plays like

Mughal-e-Azam ''Mughal-e-Azam'' () is a 1960 Indian Epic film, epic historical drama film produced and directed by K. Asif. Starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala, and Durga Khote, it follows the love affair between Mughal Empire, Mughal Prince ...

, ''Saalgirah'', '' Tumhari Amrita'' (1992), ''Salesman Ramlal'' and ''Gandhi Viruddh Gandhi''.

Career

He was the first artistic director of the Prithvi Theatre in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

and in 1983 was head of the Prithvi Theatre Festival with Jennifer Kapoor and Akash Khurana. He started with productions like the early comedy ''All the Best'' and ''Saalgirah'' (1993), written by playwright

Javed Siddiqui Javed Siddiqui (born 13 January 1942) is a Hindi and Urdu screenwriter, dialogue writer and playwright from India. He has written over 50 storylines, screenplays and dialogues. During his career, Siddiqi has collaborated with some of India's m ...

with Anupam Kher and Kirron Kher, which incidentally became her first acting performance during her comeback after a sabbatical. In 1992, the play '' Love Letters'' by American playwright and novelist A. R. Gurney was adapted to

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

as Tumhari Amrita and given an Indian context by Javed Siddiqi. It was performed by veteran actors

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Her career in the Hindi cinema, Hindi film industry has spanned Shabana Azmi filmography, over 160 films, mostly within independent and neorealist paral ...

and Farooq Sheikh at the Jennifer Kapoor Festival in Prithvi theatre in February 1992 for the first time. For one and a half hours, the actors read the letters describing the relationship between two friends Amrita and Zulfikar over a period of 35 years. For the next 21 years until Farooque Shaikh's death in December 2013, this immensely successful play went on to tour many parts of the world including US, Europe and Pakistan. Khan's production of Peter Shaffer's satirical comedy, '' The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' and the contemporary Indian adaptation of

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...

's classic ''

Death of a Salesman ''Death of a Salesman'' is a 1949 stage play written by the American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy set in late 1940s Brooklyn told through a ...

'', ''Salesman Ramlal'' (1997), starring actor-director Satish Kaushik. are important plays of Indian theatre.Satish Kaushik wants to extend his "global profile"
Financial Express, 17 September 2009. Next came English theatre production of ''Mahatma v/s Gandhi'', based on relationship between

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

and his son, Harilal Gandhi. In 2007, he made his film debut with '' Gandhi, My Father'', based on his one previous play, ''Mahatma vs Gandhi'', and opened to critical acclaim. At the

National Film Award The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

, actor Darshan Zariwala won the Best Supporting Actor Award, for his role of Gandhi, while the film itself won the Special Jury Award and Best ScreenplayNational Film Awards: Southern films bag top honours

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

, 8 September 2009. and the Best Screenplay Award at the

Asia Pacific Screen Awards The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia, sometimes called "Asia-Pacific Oscars". In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting a ...

and nominated for Grand Prix at Tokyo Film Festival. Also in 2007, he added Abbas as his middle name to avoid confusion with

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

actor-director Feroze Khan. While his play ''Salesman Ramlal'' was revived in 2009, with a more contemporary version, another classic, '' Tumhari Amrita'', was performed for no less than 21 years until December 2013, when the main actor Farooque Shaikh died. The last show was held in the Taj Mahal, Agra. In 2016, he directed ''

'', a Broadway-style

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

based on the 1960

film ''

,'' which was directed by K. Asif and produced by Shapoorji Pallonji. The musical was produced jointly by Shapoorji Pallonji Group and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (India). In March 2023, Khan planned to open his ''Civilization to Nation: The Journey of Our Nation'' in the new 2,000-seat Grand Theatre at Mumbai's Jio World Centre.

Plays

* ''Raunaq & Jassi'' * ''All the Best'' * ''Eva Mumbai Ma Chaal Jaiye'' * ''Saalgirah'' – Anupam Kher & Kirron Kher * ''The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' * '' Tumhari Amrita'' (1992) –

& Farooq Sheikh * ''Mahatma vs Gandhi'' (1998) * ''Salesman Ramlal'' (1999) – Satish Kaushik * ''Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai'' – Anupam Kher * ''Dinner With Friends'' (2011) ( Tisca Chopra, Vinay Jain,

Joy Sengupta Joy Sengupta is an Indian film and stage actor works Bollywood cinema and Bengali cinema as well as theatre. He is best known for his debut feature, '' Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa'' (1998) directed by Govind Nihalani. Sengupta was born in Kolkat ...

& Perizaad Zorabian Irani) Mughal-E-Azam - The Musical The Great Indian Musical - Civilisation To Nation

Filmography

*'' Gandhi, My Father'' (2007) *'' Dekh Tamasha Dekh''(2014)

References

External links

Feroz Khan, official webpage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Feroz Abbas 1959 births Living people Film directors from Mumbai Indian theatre directors Indian male dramatists and playwrights Hindi-language film directors Indian male screenwriters 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Best Original Screenplay National Film Award winners