Director Taher Ali is a hit man

All roads lead to Lamakaan on Saturday, literally! The venue was so crowded that people even had to be sent away. When A Distant Plateau was staged, most of the audience wasn’t even seated. The horror-comedy by Octopus Studios had garnered interest owing to the debutant director Taher Ali Baig.

The plot revolved around a widow and the hardships the family faces after a tragedy. Though there are ghosts, there was nothing typically spooky while the twists and turns in the plot kept everyone engaged.

It was a “brave” attempt for director Baig  to take up the play written by Paul Skye — the challenge being the portrayal of a ghost on the stage.

He says, “I read around 100 plays before finalising A Distant Plateau. I found the plot challenging and wanted to make my directorial debut with it.”

After about five minutes into the play, the plot reveals its first twist. The audience was taken by surprise as they realise that the character they had been empathising with, Vikram, was actually dead.

Vikram’s supernatural guide, Khan, brought some comic relief to the otherwise serious plot. We are then introduced to a clairvoyant mother and daughter duo. The rest of the story revolves around how Vikram passes on an important message to his wife and saves her from a difficult situation.

The turnout at the show took Taher by surprise too and the group later announced that it was the highest turnout at the venue with 185 people. “We had about 35 people standing and watching the play. We also had to send back 60 people. But we plan to stage it at a bigger venue soon.”

Since the staging, the director has been flooded with messages that he should direct often. Taher says he was always interested in theatre. It was a play called Shear Madness, which he watched at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC, that inspired him into theatre. And although it took Taher 16 years for this venture, the city is glad he has arrived.