He’s gay and an international arms dealer, who is now planning to sell no-man’s land between various countries!
‘A homosexual with an unsupportive family’ or ‘an international arms-dealer’ are amongst the many ‘roles’ that Akram Feroze has played as a part of his ‘Invisible Theatre’. This master story-teller would create a scene at any public place and even start conversing with people around, except that the people don’t realize till the end that it was a staged theatre. He changes nationalities, religions and occupations. And all this is for a very important mission — to change mindsets that are heavily conditioned with many prejudices and blind beliefs.
“Religions divide us. I change religions” he explains.
This adventurous journey of ‘theatre activism’ started with ‘Cycle Natak’ an initiative combining travel with theatre. Akram travelled on his cycle for three years, covering over 50,000 kms, doing some odd jobs on the way for sustenance! He has been a keen observer of human behavior and uses these minute observations in his acts. All his theatre has been a satire, challenging people’s mindsets and giving them some food for thought.
“I have only two skills — one is that I talk a lot and another is that I walk a lot. So, I thought why not combine the only two things I am good at and on the way and also inspire people”, laughs Akram.
Akram hails from a small town in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh. He was introduced to theatre art by his grandfather when he moved to Hyderabad. Upon watching closely the eminent artists like Naseeruddin Shah, Arundhati Nag, he got motivated and took up theatre professionally. He soon realized the profound effect these plays have on the public and being an avid traveller, this 23-year old young man started his journey on bicycle with just a pair of clothes, a laptop and Rs 300 and just three goals in mind- to travel, learn and share. The ‘Cycle Natak’ made him very popular and got some media attention too.
Akram’s philosophy is very simple. He beliefs in Humanity and Love and sees no place for differences on the basis on religion, caste, nationality, sexual preferences or anything else. He wants to live with a free mind and spread his philosophy through theatre.
Once while travelling in train, he wanted to highlight the purposeless hatred for people from a specific country. He got into conversation with fellow travellers and told them that he worked at a startup, just to get people’s attention. On further enquiry, he shared that his company developed next-generation of arms and ammunition for the Indian Army and also for some of its neighbouring countries. The discussion led to people terming him immoral and anti-national to support an ‘enemy-country’. And he would ask them several questions like how is it right to do a business in one country and unethical to do the same business in another; and why when many companies, like Facebook, do their business across borders, we don’t find it unethical; and what do we mean by a country? Usually people do not have answers to these difficult questions and are left thinking. In another instance, when he wanted to propagate the concept of ‘world without borders’, he would reach the borders and challenge the officials to allow him to travel freely. Once he was disturbed by how a gay friend was treated by public in Delhi. Then onwards, when he travelled in the metro, he would talk loudly on his phone or with a companion and enact as if he is homosexual and his family is against him. “I would have tried this act over 100 times and people would have strange reactions. Some men would move away and some would ask me to not talk such things loudly. Humans being curious animals, I at least got everyone’s attention and tried to make a point that we just need to accept people as they are”. As a part of this Invisible Theatre, Akram has played many roles — from seller of ‘world-passport’ to real-estate dealer selling no-man’s land between countries, for which he’s even creating a (satirical) eCommerce website!
As you would imagine, things have not been all rosy for Akram, dabbling in these sensitive issues. During his social adventures, he has been challenged, beaten up and even landed in jail several times. All these instances have not deterred him, in fact they have given him stronger belief in what he does and definitely more stories to share through his Art. Akram’s approach may be radically different, but his mission is very noble and inspiration in deed.
“Yesterday, Someone approached me and said- from all the people I have seen in this world, Akram Feroze is the only one who does nothing and yet inspires people” he shared.
He does not believe in planning and takes each day as it comes. He shared that he attempts to create a new thought-process and change the existing mindset of people. On asking him about the impact, he explained that “Impact is about proving something to someone. This is my personal journey, my way of expressing myself. It gives me immense satisfaction and there’s no point of measuring the impact. I know, some people are inspired, but I can’t measure it, as it’s an internal evolution for them too.”
We are sure that Akram has definitely been an inspiration for many people, who may not even know him!
