Mime that said a lot

85-year-old mime and theatre artiste Irshad Panjatan was in Hyderabad to woo the audience with his stellar performance

Renowned mime and theatre artist Irshad Panjatan mesmerised the audience with his performance in his programme ‘Marhoom ki Yaad Mein- Irshad Panjatan ki Zabani’ at Lamakaan on Tuesday. People from all walks of life attended the programme and had a laugh riot at the humourous storytelling event. The programme was conducted by Sutradhar, which also organised a workshop on mime by the stalwart.

Panjatan is known for bringing mime to India in 1960’s and ushered a new era in the art form. The multifaceted personality is also a trained Kathakali dancer. He learned the dance form from Raghavan Nair and Narendra Sharma.

‘Marhoom ki Yaad Mein’ the story that he narrated was penned by Patras Bukhari. Speaking about the stalwart of Urdu humour writing, he shared, “If one wants to read humour in Urdu then Patras Bukhari is the name to seek. No one can beat him in humour writing. His is a paramount in that field.”

On a special request from the audience the doyen also performed mime for the awestruck spectators. He enacted his two skits ‘Shringar’ and the popular ‘Walk of life’. Patanjan says that he hasn’t performed mime since 1995, however, it was a delight to watch the artist performing with élan. Mime is all about expressions and Panjatan dazzled the packed house with his solo acts.

‘Shringar’ showcased how a woman gets ready and adorns herself, and ‘Walk of Life’ portrayed the development of human from his birth to his death. Throwing light about the difference between Mime and Pantomime he said, “Mime is pure and for pantomime you can use voice, music and properties, etc, however, in original art form there is only body language and there are no words or interaction.

The artist has to perform only with body movements.” He also shared about how he introduced the art form, Burra katha in Urdu. “I thought I will experiment with the story telling art form of Burra Katha and introduce it in Urdu. And around four years ago, a few theatre actors performed the works of Patras Bukhari in the style.”

In fact, he also tried introducing Kathakali during a mime performance, but the elaborate make-up invovled for the Kerala art form dissuaded him to pursue the same. Born in Hyderabad and an aviation engineer by profession, Panjatan quit his job and heard his calling to pursue his passion in performing arts. His stint in theatre as actor started with the Hindustani Theatre.

He performed his first mime play in the year 1962 in nation’s capital and garnered a lot of acclaim for his stellar performance. Subsequently, he also acted in a few Bollywood films. The veteran has toured the world and enthralled audience across the globe with his performance.