Chand Tara Makes A Cannes Debut, Steeped in Deccan Lore

There are moments when a city’s memory finds a new voice. For Hyderabad, that voice now travels to the French Riviera.

This May, amidst the glittering global spectacle of the Cannes Film Festival, the mesmerizing intonation of Quli Qutub Shah’s near-immortal poetry

“Piya Baaj Piyaala” will reverberate once again, carried through Chand Tara, the debut feature film of Mohammad Ali Baig. The film’s trailer will be screened at Cannes on May 18, marking a milestone not merely for Baig, but for Hyderabad’s cultural history itself.

For over two decades, Baig has stood apart in India’s artistic landscape. Theatre audiences across the world know him as the actor-director who resurrected the grandeur of Deccani storytelling with rare elegance and scholarship. Long before this cinematic venture, his productions had already travelled to revered international platforms including University of Oxford and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where his work introduced global audiences to the layered histories of the Deccan.

Now, with Chand Tara, Baig steps into cinema with the same sense of literary devotion and visual grandeur that shaped his theatre journey.

The film revisits the legend of Taramati and Sultan Abdullah Qutub Shah, presenting the story in the romantic and artistic narratives associated with the Qutub Shahi era. Set against the cultural flowering of seventeenth-century Golconda, Chand Tara is conceived as both a historical drama and a lyrical homage to womanhood. At its heart lies the figure of Taramati, the legendary singer-dancer whose artistry became part of Hyderabad’s folklore.

“It’s an ode to womanhood,” says Padma Shri awardee Baig, whose interpretation draws inspiration from the artistic and historical vision of his late father, the legendary theatre icon Qadir Ali Baig.

That inheritance is unmistakable in the scale of the production. Chand Tara brings together an ensemble of acclaimed talent from across Indian cinema and music. Anupam Kher and Mohan Agashe feature alongside Ranjana Srivastava, who essays the role of Taramati, while Baig himself portrays Sultan Abdullah Qutub Shah. Veteran Hyderabad actors Masood Akhtar, Rashmi Seth and S. A. Majeed play pivotal roles.

The film’s music is composed by Karthik Ilaiyaraaja, with vocals by Lucky Ali and Vasundhara Das. Costume design comes from Hyderabad’s noted designer Vinita Pittie, while the film’s lyrical soul draws from the poetry of Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah himself, alongside original writing by Baig.

What makes the project particularly noteworthy is its cultural positioning. In an era where historical storytelling is often reduced to spectacle, Chand Tara appears determined to preserve texture, poetry and emotional depth. The film has already received recognition from the National Film Development Corporation of India and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which reportedly praised its “artistic feel, poetic and lyrical treatment with compelling performances and screenplay.”

The project is also co-produced by Telangana Tourism, in an effort to place the Deccan’s syncretic heritage before an international audience. Vani Prasad, Special Chief Secretary of Telangana Tourism, described the film as part of the state’s commitment to showcasing the artistic legacy of the region globally.

There is a poetic symmetry to Baig’s journey. He began by reviving forgotten histories within the arches and courtyards of Hyderabad’s monuments, staging evocative heritage plays before intimate audiences seated under open skies. One of those productions, based on the story of Taramati, drew acclaim at the historic Baradari itself. Years later, the same story now arrives at the world’s most celebrated cinematic gathering at the Cannes.

For Hyderabad, this is more than a festival screening. It is the arrival of a distinctly Deccani imagination onto one of the international cinema’s grandest avenues.