By Subhash K. Jha

Mumbai, Jan 23 (IANS): After facing legal battles and incarceration for an alleged rape, theatre personality and "Peepli Live" co-producer Mahmood Farooqui is a free man and ready to return to his first love, theatre, with a play based on the "Mahabharata".

Farooqui's wife and filmmaker Anusha Rizvi says the fight is not yet over.

"We are slowly getting back to normal. What really helped us stay afloat during these hard times was our friends. They all supported us, they believed in Mahmood's honesty.

"We don't know what we would've done without them. And of course Mahmood's theatre group. They rallied around him, supported him and kept his dreams alive. It is a big moment for us," Anusha said.

Farooqui was accused of rape by an American woman.

Last week, the Supreme Court upheld his acquittal, rejecting a plea by the complainant challenging the Delhi High Court order.

Farooqui returns to theatre with his Dastangoi, the modern interpretation of traditional literature. This time, it is the "Mahabharata" which is being re-interpreted by Farooqui as "Daastaan-e-Karn", focusing on the the epic's most robust and powerful character Karn, but in an all-new light.

In Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit, the 90-minute play written and performed by Farooqui will be staged at The Stein Auditorium, Habitat World, Delhi next month.

"We are very anxious and more than a little nervous since this is the first performance of Mahmood's Dastangoi in three years. Pray for us," Anusha said.