Padmini Kolhapure on playing ghazal legend Begum Akhtar in a play: It's a dream come true

As Padmini Kolhapure steps into the shoes of the Queen of ghazals for a play, she talks about her love for the genre and the late legend’s music.

Actor Padmini Kolhapure, who calls theatre her “calling and comfort zone”, has been busy honing her Urdu-speaking skills for the last few months. Reason? She will be playing Begum Akhtar in a play, titled Ammi... Akhtari. The two-hour-long theatrical act on the late Queen of ghazals’ life premiers later this month. “It’s a unique act and playing Begum Akhtar is a dream come true,” Kolhapure tells us, as we catch up with her during a rehearsal in Mumbai.

Padmini Kolhapure; (right) Begum Akhtar (Photos: Instagram, X)

Theatre has been a fun medium for her for a while, but Kolhapure agrees that this play is different, as it makes her “excited and nervous at the same time”. She explains: “For me, theatre has been my calling and zone for a while. It hits a different chord within and keeps me on my toes. But playing Begum Akhtar on stage isn’t easy, as I would be playing a real character. She’s worshipped and more than any of us, people would come to see Begum Akhtar! Also, the play has a lot of Urdu, so I have to get it right.”

So, is she a fan of the ghazal legend? “My father was a fan of Begum Akhtar. I developed a love for her ghazals because of him,” says Kolhapure.