It was 1963. The world was grip-ped by the Cold War, and India was reeling from a war lost to China. At that time, 37-year-old Ebrahim Alkazi, who had arrived in Delhi as the head of National School of Drama (NSD), decided to stage renowned playwright Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug. Based on the last day of the Mahabharata war, the anti-war play became a landmark production in Indian theatre, and one of the finest examples of off-site theatre, as it was staged amidst the ruins of Ferozshah Kotla fort, and later, at Purana Qila.

Manohar Singh played the pivotal role in Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq, directed by Alkazi, staged at Purana Qila in 1974. Pic courtesy/Alkazi Foundation for the Arts