Artist, filmmaker and one half of a fashion designer duo, Muzaffar Ali talks about all that he holds dear, on his visit to the city.
Artist, filmmaker, television producer, fashion designer, ex-politician, social activist, philosopher - enough adjectives to describe a half a dozen people, but to describe prince of Kotwara, Raja Syed Muzaffar Ali, you are going to be groping for more.
His life has been a constant journey of self-discovery through whatever medium he has picked - be it films, paintings, clothes, music, poetry.
"Quite opposed to common belief, art is not escapist. In fact an artist is a sensitive individual who feels things in his surroundings and seeks to sensitise the world through his work," says Muzaffar Ali.
He is in town with his wife, fashion designer Meera Ali, to present their collection at a private show. "It is an effort to empower the craftsmen of my native Kotwara by taking their craft to the world. This is our way of giving back to the society we come from," Meera Ali informs us.
Influences: "Fortunately or unfortunately my life has coincided with some significant happenings in our country. The decimation of the Awadhi identity post the mutiny of 1857, loss of a beautiful language, and the partition has left a deep wedge in me. I seek to address that through my art. My stay at Kashmir while shooting for Zooni was when I first came in touch with Sufi school of thought. It is amazing how Sufism has held the soul of the valley together in spite of centuries of unending strife. Unfortunately the movie got shelved but I still hope to make something out of it at least a docudrama."
Films: I am a consummate artist at heart. When an idea strikes me, I sketch it. To me, sketches are a tool to an end. And after I see how the sketch has turned out, I choose which tool – movies, painting etc – I will need to elaborate on the thought. A film is the culmination of all art forms and that is the reason why it can have such an influence on the audience.
On the anvil: I have been working on the script of Rumi for four years. It is based on the life of sufi poet Rumi, and is a very big project that will be shot in English. We have put together a team of passionate people and are waiting for it to hit the floors. Also, I am working on a television production on Sufi poets.
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