Turkish couple Mohammad Khezeli and Sanaz Tajsanjarani met during their graduation days, fell in love with each other and with theatre and art, especially Indian art. A few years ago, they followed their dreams and reached Hyderabad to do their Masters in Theatre Arts at the Hyderabad Central University.
Cut to the present, the couple will now stage their play The Dream of the Phoenix, on Monday in Hyderabad, as part of the ongoing National School of Drama Parallel Festival.
But how did they fall in love with India? Khezeli answers, “Since childhood, I was influenced by Indian art, especially Hindi films. During the Iran-Iraq war, these were our entertainment avenues. The inspiration for theatre comes from Tadeusz Kantor and Michael Chekhov, and music from Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner.”
A couple interested in the same art form is very rare to find, but Khezeli and Sanaz are made for each other. Khezeli adds, “Eight years ago, we thought of increasing our knowledge and expanding the geography of our performances. This led to a worldwide quest and the creation of the Kian Art Group.”
And though they are breathing theatre, music has been part of the couple’s soul. As Khezeli puts it, “My dad gifted me a keyboard when I was 11. That was the beginning.” From then he went on to pen lyrics for more than 60 songs. They find a lot of similarities between Hyderabad and Turkey — the Islamic culture and even the trace of Iran in food to architecture, literature and music. “UoH offered a great learning experience. We cherish the precious time we spent with friends, learning their styles in theatre and music to find our way,” he says.
But not everything was easy. “We have had very little chance to study Indian music. We never succeeded in securing an admission at the Potti Sriramulu Telugu University as there is a clause that one must have prior knowledge of Indian music. If I knew Indian music, then why would I come from Turkey to India? We miss the people of Hyderabad and also our fair share of Hindi that used to be all around us” says Khezeli.
