Saturday, Dec 6, 2003  
THE PHOENIX PLAYERS (Mumbai) 
“Sufiana,” Theatre  
 

Sufiana is a bouquet of flowers culled from the Sufi Garden of Wit and Wisdom, presented through the eponymous figure of the inimitable Mulla Nasruddin. Like the Koan of the Zen masters, the Sufi divines use the persona of the wise fool as a means to effect a breakthrough, to a higher learning and understanding.   The Mulla therefore, is variously portrayed as profoundly intelligent, willfully capricious or downright stupid.   Sufiana is a contemporary perspective of the delightful Dervish’s escapades that have entertained and enlightened the world through the ages.
Salim Ghouse is a graduate from the Film and TV Institute of India, Pune in Acting and World Cinema. He has an experience of forty years in theater. He has been the director of Phoenix Players since 1984 and has created several original and innovative theater productions. He has acted in television films and serials and also in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. He is a 7th degree black belt in Karate Martial arts from Okinawa, Japan with the title of “Kyoshi – Shihan”, a grandmaster in Reiki and other healing traditions, the only master in India practicing and researching the major styles of Taichichuan and a gourmet cook.  Anita Salim has twenty years of acting, teaching drama, mime and dance ballet behind her. She is the founding member of Prithvi workshops for children and has taken leading roles in many classics done by The Phoenix Players.  Credits:   Written, Designed and Directed by Salim Ghouse.  Cast: Anita Salim, Rakesh Iyer and Salim Ghouse with Aaryama Salim.    Review Photographs