A still from the play Apne Ghar Jaisa | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Hindi play by Anmol Vellani, President of India Foundation for the Arts (IFA), Apne Ghar Jaisa, Feature film and theater actors Padmavati Rao and Abhitej Gupta
The drama revolves around a woman who does anything and everything to drive away an unwanted guest. In doing so, she enters a dark place within herself as she creates caricatures of people ‘not like us’, and destroys what she cherishes and seeks to protect.
Padmavati, who has carved a niche for herself in Hindi films Teen and award winning Kannada film Ondondu Kaladalli, Says on the phone, “The lady rents a room and waits for the tenant. She begins to think about the person who might rent her room and wrestles with her own assumptions, which are dominated by her own life experiences and beliefs.
An active theater practitioner over the years, Padmavati says that with time, you learn to understand the director and portray what he wants. “At the same time, you are trying to work with your own thinking process as well. Learning never ends for anyone, and working with Anmol is a treasure. He is alert and nimble in his thinking, then too, especially the way he likes to bring his ideas to the scenes.
Understanding the need for Anmol’s perfection and given the parameters of the script that Padmavati wrote, the actor says he was given some degree of freedom to bring his ideas to life on stage. “Anmol is a demanding director, but if you follow his requirements for drama, you see the fluidity that comes with movement and jugalbandi This happens between the actors, the director, the sound engineer and the entire team involved in the production.
Apne Ghar Jaisa It will be staged in Ranga Shankara on 21st and 22nd April at 7.30 pm. Tickets on BookMyShow, ₹200.
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Portrait of Draupadi on stage
Dharini Komal, the founder of Komal Theater in Chennai, brings the play Draupadi Heading to Bangalore later this week. Having written and directed the play, Dharini describes the play as a mega theatrical production with song and dance. “It is about the heroic princess Draupadi Mahabharata. She was a multi-talented and strong-willed strong woman, a woman of mystery.
Dharini says that the play depicts Draupadi as a woman of the Dvapara era and how she is deceived by circumstances. “She is torn between the power struggle and the arrogance of the men in her life. The play also questions whether she was forced to marry five men and how she coped with the challenges of being their wife.
A scene from the Draupadi play. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The play in Tamil has traveled across India and recently had shows in Dubai and Muscat. “We realized that language should never be a barrier to enjoy a play. One of the audience members told us that he doesn’t understand every word of the play, but he can relate to every emotion of the act on stage.
The play has music by Mahakavi Bharati’s grandson Raj Kumar Bharati and poetry by Satish Kumar with verses by Bharathiyar. Panjali Sabatham,
Draupadi It will be staged at Bangalore Gayana Samaj on 22nd April at 6 pm. Tickets on BookMyShow.