Amal Allana
Amal Allana | |
---|---|
Born | [1] | 14 September 1947
Alma mater | National School of Drama |
Occupation(s) | Theatre director, educator[2] |
Years active | 1970–present |
Spouse | Nissar Allana |
Children | Zuleikha Chaudhuri |
Parent |
|
Awards | Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1998) |
Amal Allana (born 14 September 1947) is an Indian theatre director,
As a theatre director, she has directed over 55 plays in Hindi, including notable plays like, Aadhe Adhure (
She was awarded the 1998 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Direction, given by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama[8]
Early life and education
Born in 1947 in Mumbai to
In 1969, she received a scholarship from the former
Career
After returning from Germany, one of her early plays was Teen takke ka swang (1970), in Urdu with
Her collaboration with her husband, Nissar Allana started in 1971, when she was rehearsing her first solo play as a director,
She next taught in the Department of Indian Theatre,
Her first major production came in 1976, when she did
The first ever all-Indian theatre festival, Bharat Rang Mahotsav 1999, opened on 18 March in New Delhi, with staging of Girish Karnad's play Nagamandala, which she directed.[21] She founded Dramatic Art and Design Academy (DADA), situated at Khirkee Village, New Delhi, with her husband, Nissar Allana, a stage-set and lighting designer. Today she is Head of Acting there, while Nissar is the Director. In 2008, DADA started organising a 10-day 'Delhi Ibsen Festival', which featured plays directed by Ratan Thiyam, Anuradha Kapur and Neelam Mansingh.[22] In 2009, the festival included four international productions, from China, Iran, Egypt and the Netherlands, apart from production of Henrik Ibsen's plays by Shantanu Bose, Jyotish M.G., Neeraj Kabi and Zulekha Chowdhury, while Amal Allana's production, Metropolis brought together the female leads from three of Ibsen's plays—A Doll's House, Rosmersholm and Hedda Gabler in a modern mosaic set against the backdrop of present-day Mumbai and the 26/11 terrorist attacks.[23][24]
She has also worked as a set dresser in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982) and costume designer in Mahesh Bhatt's Saransh (1984)[25]
Personal life
She is married to Nissar Allana, whom she first met at the age of 15 in a father's Ebrahim Alkazi's theatre group. Nissar Allana though a doctor by profession, practices stage design and lighting design and has worked in most of her plays, he is also the Director of Dramatic Art and Design Academy (DADA), which they founded in 2000 in Delhi. Their daughter Zuleikha Chaudhary is also a theatre director.[3]
Her mother, Roshan Alkazi died in 2007, and a year later two books titled, Ancient Indian Costume and Medieval Indian Costume, based on her research of Indian costume through the history were published by Amal and her father Ebrahim, released at Art Heritage Gallery which was founded Ebrahim and Roshan together.[26]
Notes
- ^ "Midnight's Children". Hindustan Times. 14 August 2012. Archived from the original on 15 August 2012.
- ^ Biography: Amal Allana META Awards.
- ^ a b c d e "STAGECRAFT: Theatre as a tactile experience". The Hindu. 11 December 2005. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ a b "MAking Waves: Born to theatre". The Tribune. 19 June 2005.
- ^ "Carrying the mantle: National School of Drama Chairperson Amal Allana". The Hindu. 9 December 2005. Archived from the original on 31 March 2010. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Meyer, p. 9
- ^ Amal Allana gets second term as NSD chief Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 15 June 2009.
- ^ Awardees Archived 17 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Official listing.
- ^ Karnad, Girish (26 December 2005). "Ebrahim Alkazi: The man who formed the concept of Indian theatre". India Today. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
If we were to choose an individual who formed the concept of Indian theatre, it would almost certainly be Ebrahim Alkazi. But the fact that he is the offspring of a Saudi Arabian father and a Kuwaiti mother is one of those ironies with which theatre history bristles.
- ^ "As dramatic as it gets: Amal Allana recalls a life – a heady mix of great theatre and wonderful food". The Hindu. 28 January 2010. Archived from the original on 6 November 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
- ^ Kalra, Vandana (15 October 2019). "Theatre doyen Ebrahim Alkazi remembered through an exhibition". Indian Express. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
After the Partition, while the rest of his family moved to Pakistan, Alkazi decided to stay back in India.
- ^ "Reminiscence- Children of 1947– Amal Allana, theatre director". Outlook. 20 August 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
- ^ Dharwadker, p. 366
- ^ a b Dharwadker, p. 437
- ^ The curtain raisers: Theatre veterans Amal and Nissar Allana The Hindu, 30 August 2008.
- ^ Subramanyam. p. 29
- ^ Dharwadker, p. 401
- ^ Romesh Chander (8 December 2006). "Autobiography comes alive : "Nati Binodini", based on Binodini's autobiography "Aamar Kathaa"". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "STAGE CRAFT". India Today. 8 February 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
- ^ "Lights, sets, action..: Nissar and Amal Allana's "Nati Binodini" premieres this weekend in Delhi". The Hindu. 24 November 2006. Archived from the original on 1 April 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
- ^ "All the world's classics, on a stage". The Indian Express. 18 March 1999.
- ^ Interpreting Ibsen The Hindu, 20 November 2009.
- ^ "Culture:The Ibsen within". Live Mint. 28 November 2009. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
- ^ "Angst of silence". The Hindu. 4 December 2009. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
- IMDb
- ^ "Stitch in Time". 14 September 2008. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
References
- Life is a stage after all! (Amal Allana and Nissar Allana Interview)[usurped] at The Hindu
- Dharwadker, Aparna Bhargava (2005). Theatres of independence: drama, theory, and urban performance in India since 1947. University of Iowa Press. ISBN 0-87745-961-4.
- Women who dared, by Ritu Menon. National Book Trust, India, 2002. ISBN 81-237-3856-0. Chap. 13, p. 181–190.
- Subramanyam, Lakshmi (2002). "11. Gender Relations and Self Identity: A perosna Encounter – Amal Allana". Muffled voices: women in modern Indian theatre. Har-Anand Publications. ISBN 81-241-0870-6.
- Meyer-Dinkgräfe, Daniel (2002). Who's who in contemporary world theatre. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-14162-1.