By Siddhi Jain

New Delhi, Nov 14 (IANSlife): The idea of love being fundamental to humanity, is the driving philosophy behind noted theatre director Feroz Abbas Khan's new musical "Raunaq & Jassi", a two-hour celebration of love inspired by William Shakespeare's classic, "Romeo and Juliet".

"Love is fundamental to humanity, so no matter how much you try hatred, it will be exhausted and defeated. That's why we have to put our faith in love -- that's what drives this play. This love story is a 16th century classic, and it still moves people.

"There's something very fundamentally human about two innocent people in love. The only thing they are asking is: What have we done wrong that we can't be together? Why should hatred be the boundary that separates love?" Khan told IANSlife over telephone.

Khan has previously directed the Broadway-style musical "Mughal-e-Azam", and is bringing together its team for "Raunaq & Jassi". The musical with live singing is written by Iqbal Raj and premieres at Mumbai's Mukesh Patel Auditorium on November 28.

Although musicals have been popularising themselves in the Indian theatre scene, Khan says that it is the unequal quality of productions that usually puts people off. While his latest is "made to travel" among audiences of different cities, the script took under a year to get right.

It is, nonetheless, a completely original piece of writing inspired from the classics.

"It is an extremely compelling story, the way the new script has come, it should be a new addition to the theatre," he added.

As per the director, the play has robust music that comes from the land of Punjab, and will colour the atmosphere in the traditional and folk mood.

It has been produced by BookMyShow, who has added it to their specials for the year, and is also scheduled to travel to New Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Tickets to the play are available online on BookMyShow.