Advertisement
This Article is From Oct 28, 2012

Nandita Das makes stage directorial debut

Nandita Das makes stage directorial debut
The Firaaq director and writer, in the city for her back to back shows of the play, says exploring a new medium is 'fascinating'.
Kolkata: Actress Nandita Das is all set tomake her debut as a stage director with play Between theLines that explores the intricacies of gender inequality.

"What is intriguing is that the educated and affluentclass assumes that 'we are all sorted'. In our class it's moresubtle and deceptive ... Finely woven into the fabric of ourrelationships," Nandita told PTI here.

So, she says, it has been interesting to explore the ideaof relationship between couples that are supposed to beequals.

Her work with the less privileged has made her even moresensitive to the issue, says Nandita, who has also co-authoredthe play, besides acting in one of the two central roles.

Playing double roles, she has also acted the role ofanother women in the play drawing from her experience instreet theatre with Safdar Hashmi.

Between the Lines is a contemporary play set in urbanIndia where well-educated, affluent couples enacted by Nanditaand Subodh find themselves caught between modernity andtradition.

Maya and Shekhar are a lawyer couple married for 10 years.Shekhar is a high profile criminal lawyer, while Maya balanceswork and life drafting routine contracts for a law firm.They end up argiung on opposite sides of a criminal trialresulting in the blurring of their personal and professionallives.

English has been chosen as the language of the play. Askedabout it, Nandita said she was only being true to thecharacters and the milieu. "Nothing is forced in the play ...English has become the language of the class that this play isset in."

There are firsts to the play - the only other actoris debutant Subodh Maskara, her husband. It is also the firstproduction of their new company Chhoti Production Company PvtLtd that intends to explore various creative media to tellcompelling stories in the country and beyond.

"The commonality has been that the people tend to discussthe play and what it says, way after watching it and for methat is what I wanted. Considering it is the first time I amwriting and directing a play and my husband is acting andproducing it, there is a lot we are learning and discovering,"she says.

"The audience response has not been too different inthe different cities as true human emotions and relationshipsare universal," she added.

The play she feels is evolving with each show. "However,it will take 50 shows before it will be where I want it tobe," she said.

Subodh, an entrepreneur who is on a sabbatical to pursuecreative passions, gives the credit of his being an actor toNandita.

"I have to say it was inspiring to work with Nandita as itpushed me to work harder as I knew the benchmark was veryhigh," he says conceding there were times when he lost hisconfidence.

Subodh, who had trained with theatre stalwarts WamanKendre and Mahesh Dattani, says the couple did have somedisagreements on the play.

"But finally all for the good as we are happy with theresponse."

The play marks Nandita's return to the stage after a longgap of eight years. Her previous outings in the stage wereplays of Safdar Hashmi during her college days in the late1980s and later with Shabana Azmi and Zohra Sehgal.

The Firaaq director and writer, in the city for her backto back shows of the play, says exploring a new medium is'fascinating'.

"Not knowing its (play acting's) grammar frees me fromdefining it in a particular way," Nandita, who was awarded theChevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Frenchgovernment in acknowledgement of her contribution to the Arts,says.

'Between the Lines' has been co-authored by Divya Jagdale,who had earlier written two plays. The play is based on atheatrical adaptation by writer-academician PurushottamAgarwal's Mard ka Aasuon which was inspired by a 1960sHollywood comedy Adam's Rib.

Entertainment I Read Latest News on NDTV Entertainment. Click NDTV Entertainment For The Latest In, bollywood , regional, hollywood, tv, web series, photos, videos and More.

Follow us:
Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com