Aligarh : Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: The Messiah, a long awaited biopic in two volumes, that chronicles the life, vision and mission of the 19th Century social reformer and founder of Aligarh Muslim University, finally got released Wednesday night on Apple TV.
A special screening of an edited version of the film was held Wednesday evening at the Kennedy Auditorium of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), under the aegis of Sir Syed Academy, in collaboration with the Cultural Education Centre, in the presence of some of the actors of the film who were honoured by AMU Vice Chancellor, Professor Naima Khatoon.
Discussing the biopic, Shoaib Choudhary, the producer and director of the film who also played the role of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan said it took us about 11 years to complete this project, due to sheer volume of research involved and politically sensitive nature of the subject. “The film received good feedback here in AMU which is very satisfying”, Mr Choudhary noted.
While conducting the screening session, Syed Sahil Agha who has acted in the film as Shibli Nomani shared some interesting anecdotes related to the project. He said, actors in the film became part of the mission and the biopic saw daylight, owing to their commitment and hard work.
The screenplay and dialogue writer Mutyim Kamalee said, it was not easy in the beginning, keeping in mind the socio-political milieu of the times. “In a biopic the dialogue and screenplay have to reflect the tone and language of the person and his times. All aspects of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s personality had to be brought to the fore. There is a lot of negative propaganda against Sir Syed, so this was a challenge for me, and the guidance of Prof Shafey Kidwai helped us a lot”, Mr Kamali said.
During the screening at AMU, some of the actors including producer Shoaib Choudhary, noted actor Akshay Anand, Diksha Tiwari, Javed Abedi, Samvedna Suwalka, Sahil Agha, Yaqub Ghauri were presented with mementos and bouquets by Prof Naima Khatoon, AMU Vice Chancellor.
The biopic has been produced by Dr Masarrat Ali and Shoaib Choudhary.
The cast and crew of the film include Zarina Wahab as Azizunnisa Begum, wife of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan; Shoeb Choudhary as Sir Syed Ahmad Khan; Akshay Anand as Syed Mahmood; Samvedna Suwalka as Musharraf Begaum, wife of Syed Mahmood; Leena Sharma as Umrao Begum; Deepak Prashar as Khwaja Fariduddin; Nilofar Gesawat as Fakrun Nisa; Arif Zakaria as Nawab Mehmood; Tarun Shukla as Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib; Diksha Tiwari as Parsa Begum; Shahid Kabeer as Zainul Abidin; Naiyar Jafri as Mehdi Ali Khan; Irfan Razaa Khan as Shrivastava ji; Ajay Mahndru as Shyamlal; Kashif Khan as young Hamid; Nasir Ali Khan as Altaf Husain Hali; Shiv Singh as Bahadur Shah Zafar; Sumanto Roy as Torab Ali; Azhar Iqbal as Akbar Allahabadi; Aadil Shaikh as Maulvi Samiullah Khan; Javed Abedi as Raja Jai Kishan Das; Shradda Singh as Nigar Jaan; Mohommad Ali Shah as Syed Hamdi; Syed Sahil Agha as Shibli Nomani; and Yaqub Ghauri as Waqarul-Mulk.
Prof Mohammad Gulrez, Prof Rafiuddin, Prof Shafey Kidwai, Director, Sir Syed Academy, Dr. Mohammad Shahid, Prof Mohammad Naved Khan, Coordinator, Cultural Education Centre, AMU and other university officials graced the occasion.