Partap Sharma
Encyclopedia
Partap Sharma was an India
n playwright
, novel
ist, author of books for children, commentator, actor
and documentary film
-maker.
, Punjab, India (now in Pakistan) and was the oldest son of Dr. Baij Nath Sharma and Dayawati (Pandit) Sharma. Sharma’s father was a civil engineer who served as Technical Advisor to governments in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka
), Tanganyika
and Libya
and later retired to their ancestral property in Punjab
as a farmer. This colourful Punjabi village forms much of the backdrop of Sharma’s novel, Days of the Turban.
Sharma’s early education was in Trinity College, Kandy
, Ceylon, and Bishop Cotton School
, Shimla. Sharma received a triple promotion and completed school at 14 before going to study at St. Xavier's College, Bombay
; all other universities in India required a minimum age of 16. He was married to Susan Amanda Pick and they have two daughters: Namrita and Tara Sharma
.
Sharma’s association with the Indian National Theatre, Mumbai
, began in 1961 with the production by it of his first full-length play “Bars Invisible” and continued until the production of the banned “A Touch of Brightness.” While working on his writing, Sharma freelanced as a narrator
for short films and newsreel
s and directed a few documentaries for the Government of India
. Sharma has voiced many national and international award-winning documentaries and short films. He is the voice on most of the Son et lumière
shows produced in India, including the one still running forty years later, at the Delhi Fort
, in Delhi
. Sharma was the TV host of the popular programme “What’s the Good Word?” produced by Television
Centre, Mumbai
.
Even today the streets in India are open not only to traffic and human beings but also the friendly cows and bulls who wander freely as they please, sometimes absentmindedly standing in a bus queue or staring in with curiosity from the doorstep of a shop. There are even festivals for the less loved creatures, like snakes. Birds, of course, are often fed little morsels even by those who can hardly afford a daily meal for themselves. In the great epic, Mahabharata, it is said that when the legendary hero, Yuddhister went to heaven he insisted that his dog should be allowed to accompany him.
'Sharma has written a good, old-fashioned adventure story book, its rather solid virtues enlivened by the amusing device of having events narrated by the dog.'
- Rosemary Stones, Children's Book Bulletin (UK)
They live in Mumbai and Ranjha has been so skillfully trained in the art of tracking that he has become famous for the crimes he has solved. All the stories in this book are based on real cases and Ranjha tells us, in his own words, about some of the most puzzling he has helped to solve. He tracked down a local thief, he got involved in a particularly unpleasant case of what seemed to be ritual murder, he got to the bottom of a series of thefts from a warehouse that had reduced the owner of the goods to despair. He helped to find and return to her family a little girl, who had been kidnapped.
It tells the story of Balbir, the youngest member of a wealthy Punjabi family, the descendant of a great Brahmin warrior dynasty. In the Punjab the family counts for everything. Over-educated and bored with life in a Punjabi village, Balbir wants only to escape, to get away from the demands of ever-present family. Most of all he would like to follow his glamorous elder brother Raskaan, who has escaped to Europe and become westernised and rich, a businessman in Berlin.
Searching for adventure and trying to raise the money to finance his escape, Balbir becomes entangled with local gunrunners. Venturing into the golden Temple at Amritsar with a message for the Sikh extremists who have fortified it, he is held hostage to ensure that his cousin Satyavan will provide the arms the movement needs.
The book provides an insight into the mind of extremists. It shows how extremism builds on fear and then has to reach further into terrorism, not necessarily to further its aim, but for its leadership to keep ahead of its supporters and rivals. The descent from revolutionary to terrorist can be jagged and rapid.
In 1965 the play was selected for the first Commonwealth Arts Festival from among 150 works of Commonwealth writers. It was also invited to tour four theatres in Britain for a commercial run. In September 1965 the production troupe, sponsored by the Indian National Theatre, was prohibited from proceeding to England. To prevent the troupe of actors from going abroad to present the work, fifteen passports were impounded overnight. The authorities gave no explanation for this, but the reason was obvious. To quote directly from an editorial "Do these people honestly believe that the prestige of India will be enhanced by letting drama-lovers in London know the heartening fact of the existence of brothels in this country?"
The play was banned in Mumbai in 1966 on the grounds that it was set in the infamous redlight area of the city and therefore ‘dealt with subjects which should not be depicted on stage’. Seven years later, in 1972, the Mumbai High Court decreed that the censoring authority had ‘exceeded its jurisdiction’ and the ban was revoked. The play was produced by the Indian National Theatre in Mumbai in 1973.
It is interesting to note that forty years on, in 2006 it was selected by Sahitya Akademi (India's National Academy of Letters) to launch a series of contemporary plays by Indian writers in English.
Meanwhile, the play had become a subject of academic study in universities in India and abroad. The play has also been produced and published in at least five countries in various languages. It was broadcast for the first time over radio by the BBC Third Programme on 3 November 1967 with a cast that included Judi Dench
(as Prema/Rukmini), and music specially composed for it by the famous sitar player, Pandit Ravi Shankar
. Well known literary critic Walter Allen
wrote of this play when it was first broadcast “the most imaginatively satisfying” experience in his recent listening.
It was rebroadcast on BBC 7
in 2007.
In 1999, Geeta Citygirl
staged the American premiere of A TOUCH OF BRIGHTNESS at Aaron Davis Hall
in Harlem
, NY. Partap Sharma was present for the opening night performance.
It tells the story of how Bodhidharma, born a prince in South India in the fifth century, had to discover ways to excel at unarmed combat because the royal Pallavas prided themselves on their wrestling skills. The Prince became a monk and fled from the demands of a throne to China, but could not so easily escape the woman who loved him.
The play brings alive Gandhi’s philosophy, pragmatism, and sense of humour. Partap Sharma’s play unwinds Gandhi’s concepts and his techniques for non-violent struggle. The play is captivating as we realise that Gandhi’s struggle has no enemy, no arms, no hate nor revenge, but only the inner strength of millions of ordinary men, women and children.
The play has won the 2006 META awards in India for Best Original Script, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Costumes. It is playing to great acclaim in India, and S.E Asia and after the European Premiere in Brussels in October 2006, travelled to the US,UK in 2007. It then travelled to New Zealand and Australia where it received standing ovations.
Sharma's Sammy has also travelled all the way successfully to the Scotland. The story in itself will be a form of reviving the values of Mahatma in foreign lands through theatre and this play has been woven as the director (Pranay Ahluwalia) has tried to show history through modern eyes which would lead the audience into the era which shaped the future of India for generations to come.
90 Minutes for Gandhi, was staged at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2009 as a horizontal adaption of the original play under the banner of The Holycow Performing Arts Group, an Edinburgh-based amateur theater group. The play has been very well received.
Farzana is a peerless courtesan who morphs into a powerful ruler, known for her political accomplishments as well as her amorous liaisons. After seducing Walter Reinhardt Sombre
, a Swiss German mercenary, she acquires the kingdom of Sardhana from Emperor Shah Alam, and commands a fierce brigade of 3000 European and Indian soldiers.
It is said that tourists who visited British India were advised to see the Taj Mahal
, and to pay their respects to the Begum!
The story is of an amazing Indian woman who was ahead of her time and ours.
The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum
in Bristol, UK, now has a permanent section entitled 'The Sharma Archive' consisting of 30 video and 67 audio tapes made by Partap Sharma. Interviews and footage of Indian nationalists, freedom fighters and writers. Indian perspectives on the Raj. Some transcripts available (CDs, Videos and Cassettes).
”. Other films include the lead role in the following Hindi films:
"Commonly acknowledged as one of the most recorded (for advertising shorts) voices of India, actor-playwright and thespian Pratap Sharma's latest venture - a solo recording of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is a literary tour de force. It makes for spell-binding listening as he holds the stage all alone, lending each character a completely distinctive tone and nuance.
This recording ... is particularly remarkable, since Sharma was on oxygen at all times to combat emphysema, a lung ailment from which he has been suffering for the past few years." - Gaver Chatterjee, Education World.
"Quite a solo feat. He lent each role a certain shading, using nuance, inflection…" -Indian Express.
"The recording has an amazing range of voice - without break for changing from one character to another. Partap Sharma, the Golden Voice of India…" - Hindustan Times.
"Shakespeare comes alive loud and clear. Partap's is among the most marvellous voices in not just India but the world. This recording of one man speaking in so many accents will be a staple for young students." - The Times of India.
"It comes as no surprise that the man with the golden voice needs no advertising or publicity for his work. Sharma, the man they call simply 'the voice' has voiced all the characters in the play, from the three witches to Macbeth himself - an aural treat. The series is also testimony to the writer-documentary filmmaker-actor's fighting spirit as he battles with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema." - CNN/IBN
1971 National Award for the lead role in the feature film “Phir Bhi” which also won the National Award for the best Hindi film of the year.
Cleo Award U.S.A for best voice.
1976 RAPA First Prize for best voice in radio spots.http://www.rapa.in/
1992 the “Hamid Sayani
” Trophy for a lifetime of all-round excellence in radio and television.
2000 Ad Club of Mumbai Award for Lifetime Contribution to Advertising.
2006 “Meta Award” for Best Original Script for SAMMY!http://www.metawards.com/2006/sammy.htm
2007 "Yuva Thespo 9 Lifetime Achievement Award " http://thespo.theatre.org.in/laa_i.html
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
ist, author of books for children, commentator, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
-maker.
Background
Sharma was born in LahoreLahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, Punjab, India (now in Pakistan) and was the oldest son of Dr. Baij Nath Sharma and Dayawati (Pandit) Sharma. Sharma’s father was a civil engineer who served as Technical Advisor to governments in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
), Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
and Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
and later retired to their ancestral property in Punjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
as a farmer. This colourful Punjabi village forms much of the backdrop of Sharma’s novel, Days of the Turban.
Sharma’s early education was in Trinity College, Kandy
Trinity College, Kandy
Trinity College, Kandy founded in 1872 by Anglican missionaries, is an Independent elite private boys’ school providing primary and secondary education in Sri Lanka...
, Ceylon, and Bishop Cotton School
Bishop Cotton School
Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, is one of the oldest boarding school in Asia, having been founded on 28 July, 1859, by Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton. The alumni of Bishop Cotton are known as Old Cottonians...
, Shimla. Sharma received a triple promotion and completed school at 14 before going to study at St. Xavier's College, Bombay
St. Xavier's College, Bombay
St. Xavier's College in Mumbai , India is a Roman Catholic college in the Jesuit tradition. The college is named after Francis Xavier, the 16th century Spanish Jesuit saint. It has been awarded the highest rating A+ in the re-accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council in...
; all other universities in India required a minimum age of 16. He was married to Susan Amanda Pick and they have two daughters: Namrita and Tara Sharma
Tara Sharma
Tara Sharma is an Indian actress. She is half British and half Indian.-Personal life:Sharma is the daughter of the well-known author and actor, Partap Sharma, and Susan Sharma, and is an alumna of the London School of Economics and of the United World College of the Adriatic. She is married to ad...
.
Sharma’s association with the Indian National Theatre, Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, began in 1961 with the production by it of his first full-length play “Bars Invisible” and continued until the production of the banned “A Touch of Brightness.” While working on his writing, Sharma freelanced as a narrator
Narrator
A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
for short films and newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
s and directed a few documentaries for the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
. Sharma has voiced many national and international award-winning documentaries and short films. He is the voice on most of the Son et lumière
Son et lumière
Son et lumière may refer to:*Son et lumière , a sound and light show*"Son et Lumiere", song by The Mars Volta on the album De-Loused in the Comatorium...
shows produced in India, including the one still running forty years later, at the Delhi Fort
Delhi Fort
The Red Fort is a 17th century fort complex constructed by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the walled city of Old Delhi that served as the residence of the Mughal Emperors. It also served as the capital of the Mughals until 1857, when Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled by the British...
, in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
. Sharma was the TV host of the popular programme “What’s the Good Word?” produced by Television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
Centre, Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
.
The Surangini Tales
The Surangini Tales (1973) is a children’s book, about Surangini, daughter of the village zamindar. She is the most beautiful maiden anyone has ever seen. Kalu, the poor weaver, loves her, but only the wealthiest of eligible young men can ask for her hand in marriage. Unless, Kalu with his deft hands, quick wit and unselfish love can produce something like a miracle, unexpected and amazing, on the day she is to choose her bridegroom….!Dog Detective Ranjha
Dog Detective Ranjha (1978) is a story book about Sharma’s Alsatian dog Ranjha. Sharma dedicates the book to animal lovers the world over, and particularly in India where some of the world’s earliest animal stories were written.Even today the streets in India are open not only to traffic and human beings but also the friendly cows and bulls who wander freely as they please, sometimes absentmindedly standing in a bus queue or staring in with curiosity from the doorstep of a shop. There are even festivals for the less loved creatures, like snakes. Birds, of course, are often fed little morsels even by those who can hardly afford a daily meal for themselves. In the great epic, Mahabharata, it is said that when the legendary hero, Yuddhister went to heaven he insisted that his dog should be allowed to accompany him.
'Sharma has written a good, old-fashioned adventure story book, its rather solid virtues enlivened by the amusing device of having events narrated by the dog.'
- Rosemary Stones, Children's Book Bulletin (UK)
The Little Master of the Elephant
The Little Master of the Elephant (1984) tells the story of a parched land, where people are dying or leaving. Chintu and his elephant Vivek go in search of water to save a dying uncle. They come back with a retinue of people and animals and a river of water instead of first a bucketful. This is just the beginning of their adventures together and their search for the meaning of life. In a part Chintu finds love and is promised to be king and find the meaning of what he is looking for.Top Dog
Top Dog (1985) has more stories about Ranjha, the dog detective.They live in Mumbai and Ranjha has been so skillfully trained in the art of tracking that he has become famous for the crimes he has solved. All the stories in this book are based on real cases and Ranjha tells us, in his own words, about some of the most puzzling he has helped to solve. He tracked down a local thief, he got involved in a particularly unpleasant case of what seemed to be ritual murder, he got to the bottom of a series of thefts from a warehouse that had reduced the owner of the goods to despair. He helped to find and return to her family a little girl, who had been kidnapped.
Days of the Turban
Sharma’s novel Days of the Turban (1986) presents a picture of Indian Society from the inside. It shows a country in transition, where old values are under attack from new ideas but where, in the end, the traditions and ways of life still have their place.It tells the story of Balbir, the youngest member of a wealthy Punjabi family, the descendant of a great Brahmin warrior dynasty. In the Punjab the family counts for everything. Over-educated and bored with life in a Punjabi village, Balbir wants only to escape, to get away from the demands of ever-present family. Most of all he would like to follow his glamorous elder brother Raskaan, who has escaped to Europe and become westernised and rich, a businessman in Berlin.
Searching for adventure and trying to raise the money to finance his escape, Balbir becomes entangled with local gunrunners. Venturing into the golden Temple at Amritsar with a message for the Sikh extremists who have fortified it, he is held hostage to ensure that his cousin Satyavan will provide the arms the movement needs.
The book provides an insight into the mind of extremists. It shows how extremism builds on fear and then has to reach further into terrorism, not necessarily to further its aim, but for its leadership to keep ahead of its supporters and rivals. The descent from revolutionary to terrorist can be jagged and rapid.
A Touch of Brightness
"A Touch of Brightness" (1964) centres around Rukmini, a girl sold to a brothel in Mumbai and her relationship with Pidku, a street urchin, who tries desperately to rescue her from her life as a prostitute. Rukmini mesmerises Pidku with her visionary stories of the gods and her dreams of a married life as the wife of the blue god Krishna.. Even in a brothel, her extravagant optimism never ceases but only deepens.In 1965 the play was selected for the first Commonwealth Arts Festival from among 150 works of Commonwealth writers. It was also invited to tour four theatres in Britain for a commercial run. In September 1965 the production troupe, sponsored by the Indian National Theatre, was prohibited from proceeding to England. To prevent the troupe of actors from going abroad to present the work, fifteen passports were impounded overnight. The authorities gave no explanation for this, but the reason was obvious. To quote directly from an editorial "Do these people honestly believe that the prestige of India will be enhanced by letting drama-lovers in London know the heartening fact of the existence of brothels in this country?"
The play was banned in Mumbai in 1966 on the grounds that it was set in the infamous redlight area of the city and therefore ‘dealt with subjects which should not be depicted on stage’. Seven years later, in 1972, the Mumbai High Court decreed that the censoring authority had ‘exceeded its jurisdiction’ and the ban was revoked. The play was produced by the Indian National Theatre in Mumbai in 1973.
It is interesting to note that forty years on, in 2006 it was selected by Sahitya Akademi (India's National Academy of Letters) to launch a series of contemporary plays by Indian writers in English.
Meanwhile, the play had become a subject of academic study in universities in India and abroad. The play has also been produced and published in at least five countries in various languages. It was broadcast for the first time over radio by the BBC Third Programme on 3 November 1967 with a cast that included Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
(as Prema/Rukmini), and music specially composed for it by the famous sitar player, Pandit Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
. Well known literary critic Walter Allen
Walter Allen
Walter Ernest Allen was an English literary critic and novelist. He is best known for his classic study The English Novel: a Short Critical History ....
wrote of this play when it was first broadcast “the most imaginatively satisfying” experience in his recent listening.
It was rebroadcast on BBC 7
BBC 7
BBC Radio 4 Extra, formerly known as BBC 7 and BBC Radio 7, is a British digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and children's programming nationally 24 hours a day. It is the principal broadcasting outlet for the BBC's archive of spoken-word entertainment...
in 2007.
In 1999, Geeta Citygirl
Geeta Citygirl
Geeta Citygirl is an actor, dancer, director, producer and the founder and artistic director of SALAAM, the first South Asian American theatre, arts and film company in the USA. Based in New York City, the theatre company was started in the year 2000...
staged the American premiere of A TOUCH OF BRIGHTNESS at Aaron Davis Hall
Aaron Davis Hall
Aaron Davis Hall is a Performing Arts Center in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.Aaron Davis Hall was founded in 1981 and is located on the campus of the City College of New York, between West 133rd and 135th Streets on Convent Avenue. Convent Ave. is one block east of Amsterdam Avenue...
in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, NY. Partap Sharma was present for the opening night performance.
Zen Katha
The Zen Katha of Bodhidharma is a historical play about the founder of zen who was also a master of martial arts. Revered in China, Okinawa and Japan, the Indian monk Bodhidharma was, till the writing, performance and publication of this play, almost forgotten in his homeland India.It tells the story of how Bodhidharma, born a prince in South India in the fifth century, had to discover ways to excel at unarmed combat because the royal Pallavas prided themselves on their wrestling skills. The Prince became a monk and fled from the demands of a throne to China, but could not so easily escape the woman who loved him.
Sammy!
The irrepressible ‘Mahatma’ in Gandhi is the Inner Voice he could not ignore. This intricately crafted play portrays Gandhi’s journey from a tongue-tied lawyer to a shrewd politician and finally the Mahatma (Great Soul). Set against the dramatic background of India’s struggle for freedom, this outstanding play surprises our expectation at every turn of the story. Full of humour and style, the play makes past events seem like present gossip and the audience is transported deeper within themselves.The play has won the 2006 META awards in India for Best Original Script, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Costumes. It is playing to great acclaim in India, and S.E Asia and after the European Premiere in Brussels in October 2006, travelled to the US,UK in 2007. It then travelled to New Zealand and Australia where it received standing ovations.
Sharma's Sammy has also travelled all the way successfully to the Scotland. The story in itself will be a form of reviving the values of Mahatma in foreign lands through theatre and this play has been woven as the director (Pranay Ahluwalia) has tried to show history through modern eyes which would lead the audience into the era which shaped the future of India for generations to come.
90 Minutes for Gandhi, was staged at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2009 as a horizontal adaption of the original play under the banner of The Holycow Performing Arts Group, an Edinburgh-based amateur theater group. The play has been very well received.
Begum Sumroo
Set in the late eighteenth century The Rebel Courtesan, Begum Sumroo (she is also known as Begum Samru), traces the picaresque adventures of a legendary historical figure from British India, Begum (Queen) Sumroo.Farzana is a peerless courtesan who morphs into a powerful ruler, known for her political accomplishments as well as her amorous liaisons. After seducing Walter Reinhardt Sombre
Walter Reinhardt Sombre
Walter Reinhardt Sombre was an adventurer and mercenary in India from the 1760s.Sombre is thought to have been born in Strasbourg or Treves. His nationality is uncertain, being given in various sources as Austrian, French, German, Luxemburger, or Swiss...
, a Swiss German mercenary, she acquires the kingdom of Sardhana from Emperor Shah Alam, and commands a fierce brigade of 3000 European and Indian soldiers.
It is said that tourists who visited British India were advised to see the Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...
, and to pay their respects to the Begum!
The story is of an amazing Indian woman who was ahead of her time and ours.
Staged Plays
- Brothers Under The Skin, (1956)
- Bars Invisible (1961)
- A Touch Of Brightness (1965)
- The Word (1966)
- The Professor Has A Warcry (1970)
- Queen Bee (1976)
- Power Play (1991)
- Begum Sumroo (1997)
- Zen Katha (2004)
- SAMMY! (2005)
Documentaries and Films
Partap Sharma has directed some outstanding documentaries, as independent producer and for the Government of India’s Films Division, and Channel Four Television, UK. His film credits include:- The Framework Of Famine, 1967, an investigation of how nature’s devastation is compounded by human corruption and inefficiency; banned for it’s “ruthless candour” then released after other documentary-makers protested.
- The Flickering Flame, 1974, a study of the mismanagement of the energy crisis and its effect on the suburban housewife; banned and never released.
- Kamli, 1976, a short film depicting the status of women in rural Indian society.
- The Empty Hand, 1982, (co-directed) a prize-winning audiovisual about the art of karate.
- Viewpoint Amritsar, 1984, co-directed a film about the Golden Temple and environs in the aftermath of Operation Bluestar.
- The British Raj Through Indian Eyes, 1992, a documentary series telecast in 1992 by Channel Four Television UK. Part I: The Uprising of 1857. Part II: The Massacre at Jallianwallah Bagh 1919Jallianwala Bagh massacreThe Jallianwala Bagh massacre , also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place in the Jallianwala Bagh public garden in the northern Indian city of Amritsar, and was ordered by Brigadier-General Reginald E.H. Dyer...
.
The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum
British Empire and Commonwealth Museum
The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum was a museum in Bristol, United Kingdom exploring the history of the British Empire and the effect of British colonial rule on the rest of the world....
in Bristol, UK, now has a permanent section entitled 'The Sharma Archive' consisting of 30 video and 67 audio tapes made by Partap Sharma. Interviews and footage of Indian nationalists, freedom fighters and writers. Indian perspectives on the Raj. Some transcripts available (CDs, Videos and Cassettes).
- Sailing Around The World And Discover America Yachting Rally, two video programmes directed by Sandhya Divecha and produced by Sharma’s Indofocus Films Pvt. Ltd.
- British Raj Hindustani Nazron Se, 1995–98, A Hindi TV Serial.
Feature Films
As an actor Sharma played a role in the Merchant-Ivory film “Shakespeare WallahShakespeare Wallah
Shakespeare Wallah is a 1965 Merchant Ivory Productions film. The story and screenplay are by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Madhur Jaffrey won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 15th Berlin International Film Festival for her performance...
”. Other films include the lead role in the following Hindi films:
- Phir Bhi (1971)
- Andolan (1975)
- Tyaag Patra (1980)
- Pehla Kadam (1980)
- Nehru – The Jewel of India (1989)
- The Bandung Sonata (2002) Filmed in China, Sharma played Nehru in this international film which was subsequently re-titled for release in China as Chou-en-Lai in Bandung.
Audio CDs
- Julius Caesar (2007)
"Commonly acknowledged as one of the most recorded (for advertising shorts) voices of India, actor-playwright and thespian Pratap Sharma's latest venture - a solo recording of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is a literary tour de force. It makes for spell-binding listening as he holds the stage all alone, lending each character a completely distinctive tone and nuance.
This recording ... is particularly remarkable, since Sharma was on oxygen at all times to combat emphysema, a lung ailment from which he has been suffering for the past few years." - Gaver Chatterjee, Education World.
"Quite a solo feat. He lent each role a certain shading, using nuance, inflection…" -Indian Express.
- The Merchant of Venice (2007)
"The recording has an amazing range of voice - without break for changing from one character to another. Partap Sharma, the Golden Voice of India…" - Hindustan Times.
"Shakespeare comes alive loud and clear. Partap's is among the most marvellous voices in not just India but the world. This recording of one man speaking in so many accents will be a staple for young students." - The Times of India.
- Macbeth (2008)
"It comes as no surprise that the man with the golden voice needs no advertising or publicity for his work. Sharma, the man they call simply 'the voice' has voiced all the characters in the play, from the three witches to Macbeth himself - an aural treat. The series is also testimony to the writer-documentary filmmaker-actor's fighting spirit as he battles with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema." - CNN/IBN
Awards & Honours http://www.partapsharma.com/
Sharma won numerous first prizes in school & university in debating, elocution & acting including first prize at the All India Inter-University Youth Festival, Delhi, in 1958.1971 National Award for the lead role in the feature film “Phir Bhi” which also won the National Award for the best Hindi film of the year.
Cleo Award U.S.A for best voice.
1976 RAPA First Prize for best voice in radio spots.http://www.rapa.in/
1992 the “Hamid Sayani
Hamid Sayani
Hamid Sayani was a popular announcer with the Hindi Service of Radio Ceylon. He was the brother of Ameen Sayani who presented Binaca Geetmala....
” Trophy for a lifetime of all-round excellence in radio and television.
2000 Ad Club of Mumbai Award for Lifetime Contribution to Advertising.
2006 “Meta Award” for Best Original Script for SAMMY!http://www.metawards.com/2006/sammy.htm
2007 "Yuva Thespo 9 Lifetime Achievement Award " http://thespo.theatre.org.in/laa_i.html