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'''''Inder Sabha''''' ([[Urdu]]: اِندر سبها) is an Urdu [[Play (theatre)|play]] and [[opera]] written by [[Agha Hasan Amanat]], and first staged in 1853.<ref name="ref77vojug">{{Citation | title=The Encyclopaedia Of Indian Literature, Volume 2 | author=Amaresh Datta | publisher=Sahitya Akademi, 2006 | isbn=978-81-260-1194-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zB4n3MVozbUC | quote=''... some characters used masks and other make up their faces ... Fireworks were used ... published in German by Friedrich Rosen (1856-1935) in Leipzig which evoked considerable interest ... Khadim Husain Afsos's ''Inder Sabha'' (Agra, 1862) ...''}}</ref> It is regarded as the first complete Urdu stage play ever written.<ref name="ref77vojug"/><ref name="ref08rorif">{{Citation | title=The Cambridge guide to Asian theatre | author=James R. Brandon | publisher=Cambridge University Press, 1997 | isbn=978-0-521-58822-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ttnH5W9qoBAC | quote=''... The history of the theatre of modern Pakistan is the history of the Urdu-language theatre which started in 1853 with the composition of Mirza Amanat's ''Inder Sabha'' performed at the court of Wajid Ali Shah of Oudh ... for at least two generations after that, actors and musicians of Oudh sang the songs of Inder Sabha ...''}}</ref> The play was translated into [[German language|German]] in the 1880s as a doctoral thesis at the University of Leipzig by [[Friedrich Rosen]], and published to positive critical reception in 1892.<ref name="ref77vojug"/><ref name="ref08rorif"/><ref>Friedrich Rosen. "Die Indarsabhā des Amānat : neuindisches Singspiel in lithographischem Originaltext." Leipzig: Brockhaus Verlag, 1892.</ref> A film, ''Indrasabha'', based on the play was released by [[Madan Theatre]] in 1932.<ref name="ref18govoh">{{Citation | title=Global Bollywood: travels of Hindi song and dance | author=Sangita Gopal, Sujata Moorti | publisher=University of Minnesota Press, 2008 | isbn=978-0-8166-4579-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19JBf6oDOy0C | quote=''... in early experimentations with the technology of sound, narration in films like ''Indrasabha'' (The Court of Indra, JJ Madan, 1932) ... It would therefore be gratuitous to say that ''Indrasabha'' had seventy-one songs ...''}}</ref><br />
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==The play==<br />
The opera is set in the celestial court of [[Indra]], the king of the gods (devas) in [[Hindu mythology]]. The play is written entirely in verse, and the central theme is a romance between a prince and a fairy.<ref name="ref69veyox">{{Citation | title=South Asia: the Indian subcontinent, Part 2 | author=Alison Arnold | publisher=Taylor &amp; Francis, 2000 | isbn=978-0-8240-4946-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOlNv8MAXIEC | quote=''... The court poet Agha Hasan ("Amanat") wrote this musical dance drama based on the love story of a fairy and a prince. The drama, entirely in verse, was picked up by Parsi theater companies in Bombay that produced Urdu plays in India ...''}}</ref> Operatic devices such as fireworks and masks are employed in enacting the play.<ref name="ref77vojug"/> Although the play was initially intended to be performed in royal court, songs from the play influenced the [[Geet (song)|''geet'' tradition]] in Urdu and quickly transitioned into popular culture, where "''for at least two generations after that, actors and musicians of Oudh sang the songs of Inder Sabha''."<ref name="ref08rorif"/><ref name="ref83dopac">{{Citation | title=Urdū adab | author=Sayyid Mohammad Abdullah | publisher=Maktaba-e-khayaban-e-adab, 1967 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbNHAAAAMAAJ | quote=''... اردو میں اس صنف کا احیا، اودھ کے تہزیبی دور میں ھوا. امانت نے اندر سبھا میں گیت کو رواج دیا ...''}}</ref> The play included "''31 [[ghazal]]s, 9 [[thumri]] of gaya and [[Benares gharana]], 4 holis, 15 songs and two [[chaubola]]s and five [[Chhand (poetry)|chhand]]s with enough scope for dances as well''."<br />
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The play is considered a seminal work that directly influenced several important nineteenth and early-twentieth century Urdu plays that followed it, including Khadim Husain Afsos's ''Bazm-e-Suleman'' (1862), Bahiron Singh Asmat's ''Jashn-e-Parastan'' and Taj Mahal Farrukh's ''Nigaristan-e-Farrukh'' (1911).<ref name="ref77vojug"/><br />
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==Commissioning==<br />
Although it is widely regarded as the first Urdu stage play, there is dispute on how the play came to be created.<ref name="ref96deder">{{Citation | title=The Pakistan review, Volume 8 | publisher=Ferozsons., 1960 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vG3VAAAAMAAJ | quote=''... Sharar is also opposed to the view that the first Urdu Drama namely ''Inder Sabha'' was composed by the order of ... Also, there is a good deal of evidence to show that ''Inder Sabha'' was written by Amanat at the behest of Wajid Ali Shah ...''}}</ref> While some historians have contended that Agha Hasan Amanat was commissioned by [[Wajid Ali Shah]] to write it, others (such as [[Abdul Halim Sharar]]) have disputed this claim and asserted that it was written entirely independently by Amanat.<ref name="ref96deder"/><br />
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==Adaptations==<br />
Manilal Joshi made, ''Indrasabha'', an Indian silent film based on the play in 1925. Another film ''Indrasabha'', released in 1932, was one of the earliest [[sound film]]s made in India, the very next year after ''[[Alam Ara]]'', which was the first Indian talkie. It featured over seventy songs and was 211 minutes long. The film was made by [[Jamshedji Framji Madan]]'s company, [[Madan Theatre]] and starred [[Jehanara Kajjan]] among others.<ref name="ref18govoh"/> ''Indrasabha'' holds the world record for the most songs (72) in any [[musical film|musical]] ever made.<ref name="ref05moram">{{Citation | title=Movie facts and feats: a Guinness record book | author=Patrick Robertson | publisher=Sterling Pub. Co., 1980 | isbn=978-0-8069-0204-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FDoOAAAAMAAJ | quote=''... The musical with the most song numbers was Madan Theatres' Indra Sabha (India 32), a Hindi movie with 72 songs. The Hollywood musical with the most songs was Columbia's The Jolson Story'' (US 46) which had 28 song sequences ...''}}</ref> A. Narayanan, R. S. Prakash followed Madan's [[Hindi]] film adaptation with ''Indrasabha'' (1936), another sound film this time in [[Tamil language|Tamil]].<ref name="RajadhyakshaWillemen1999">{{cite book|last1=Rajadhyaksha|first1=Ashish|last2=Willemen|first2=Paul|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian cinema|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediaofi0000raja|url-access=registration|accessdate=12 August 2012|year=1999|publisher=British Film Institute}}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist|2}}<br />
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* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_GZtCwAAQBAJ Bhojpuri Filmon Ka Safarnama] By Raviraj Patel {{ISBN|9351862038}}''<br />
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[[Category:Indian plays]]<br />
[[Category:Urdu theatre]]<br />
[[Category:History of theatre]]<br />
[[Category:1853 plays]]<br />
[[Category:1853 operas]]<br />
[[Category:Indian plays adapted into films]]</div>UpdateBot