With a simple ‘good evening’ in his rich baritone Kabir Bedi set the mood that was mesmerising, to say the least. Organised by Sanskriti Sagar and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in association with The Telegraph, the one-hour session on Rumi and his poetry at GD Birla Sabhagar, transported everyone to the mystic world of the Persian poet and delved into the meaning of love, oneness, devotion and more, as defined and understood by mystics. Personifying the aura of the 16th-century mystical poet on the stage, the actor recited the immortal verses of Rumi with great depth, which touched a chord with the audience. Jai Talwar’s music selection added to the charm of the evening without overpowering the verses of Rumi.
Calling Rumi a Sufi mystic ‘rockstar’ and the audience a ‘seeker’, Bedi first introduced Rumi and then proceeded to focus on his greatest influence Shams Tabrizi and his works. Rumi is considered the most popular poet and the best-selling author in the US and has written around 70,000 poems. Love is a recurring theme in his poetry and with great intensity Bedi recited a few poems filling our hearts with joy and altering our understanding of the universal emotion. He recited Love Has Nothing To Do With The Five Senses and Go Back, Go Back To Sleep. The actor-author even shared his understanding of Rumi’s often simple-yet-layered poetry, thereby making the session more enriching.
Remaining silent is also part of the mystic experience, Bedi made us take note, reading out another simple yet deeply meaningful poetry. While at one point he called the poet harsh in seeking the Divine, he also made us note that the Divine manifests in small beautiful ways and established this point by reading out the poem The Flute Weeps, asking us all to image each word and sentence. “The message of Rumi is one of love, that’s the currency that goes through everything. Love has many manifestations and like God, has so many meanings. Love in the mystical sense is not just for human beings; it’s caring for nature, having compassion for animals and caring and tolerance for everyone around you. That is the meaning of love in its largest form,” said Bedi at the concluding part of the evening and in front of an ecstatic audience who complimented him with resounding applause and a standing ovation. Bedi expressed his interest in coming back to the city with a session on mystics from around the world.
Bedi obliged fans at GD Birla Sabhagar
Kabir Bedi was also part of a similar session at Tollygunge Club. (From left) Malini Sarkar Navada, chairperson, entertainment committee; Capt. Sanjiv Dhir, president of the club, Bedi and Brig. V. Ganapathy (Retd), CEO of the club. “It was a full house at the Tollygunge Club where film actor Kabir Bedi presented a tribute to the 13th-century Sufi mystic poet Rumi. The audience was treated to a bouquet of Rumi’s poems of spiritual love elegantly recited to music. A commentary, woven by Bedi around the verses, spoke of the life of Rumi, the poet’s profound intellect, his friendship with the mystic Shams and his spiritual yearnings. The actor also spoke to the audience about his own interest in mystic philosophers and his own spiritual quest. The success of the evening could be gauged by the hushed silence in which the audience heard the poet’s words and the ovation that Bedi received for his impressive rendition. Among the audience at the Tollygunge Club was the veteran cricketer, Arun Lal and many of Bedi’s friends from his alma mater St. Stephen’s College,” said Dhir, the president of the club.
A packed audience at Tolly Club