About The Event
Girish Karnad's TUGHLAQ is an acclaimed play in Modern Indian Theatre.
This original Kannada play deals with the complex, yet fascinating historical Sultan, Muhammad Bin Tughlaq.
Tughlaq was a visionary ruler, whose foresight and ideas were ahead of times. But sadly, he failed in implementing his vision. This led to an inevitable backlash from the elite, the religious orthodoxy as well as the people at large. Faced with this barrage of criticism, Tughlaq became increasingly violent. He killed, maimed and banished the people around him. The ultimate tragedy is that he lived on to see his entire vision collapse.
This play recaptures the significant events starting shortly after Tughlaq's ascension to the throne: his proclamations of idealism, his calling upon his people to be a part of the building of a new empire, of prosperity, peace, and amity. It outlines his clever plots to eliminate his opponents and his surviving an assassination attempt by his own courtiers. This was a turning point in his life: he decided to shift his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad, ordered every
single subject to move from Delhi, banned prayer altogether, and imposed unspeakable cruelties on his subjects.
The miseries of the people during the journey, the corruption that was huge and endemic, and Tughlaq's progressive alienation and isolation from his people are dramatically portrayed. The play ends with scenes of utter chaos and misery in the kingdom, and Tughlaq being left alone, having been abandoned by those who survived him!
This landmark production has been performed HUNDREDS of times across Karnataka and the major centres in India. This revival is a tribute to the director, C.R.Simha.
