Yatrik comes to Chennai with its longest-running and most popular production

CHARGED DIALOGUE Sunit Tandon and Shyama Haldar in "9, Jakhoo Hill"

There is a lot of excitement in Yatrik, one of Delhi's oldest theatre groups, about their performance at the MetroPlus theatre festival. The play chosen by this group, which has worked with some of India's biggest names in theatre, film and television during its 40-year history is "9, Jakhoo Hill."

Written by Gurcharan Das and directed by Sunit Tandon, the play is set in Shimla against the backdrop of the 1962 Chinese aggression. The action centres on a family uprooted by the Partition and clinging to memories of lost glory. Despite the idyllic setting and the well-bred mannerisms, it is obvious, as the action unfolds inside the house that means so much to the protagonists, that something is smouldering beneath the surface, and in the tradition of Western drama, things come to a head through charged dialogue, verbal revelations, rather than overt theatrics.

Class differences, the lingering `brown saheb' syndrome, the manner in which the division of India shattered a generation's worldview and left it groping for its moorings, these are a few of the larger themes that form the backdrop to "9, Jakhoo Hill." Close up, though, it is a story of family ties and universal emotions, of how human beings cope with adversity.

Perhaps that explains why the play has been a hit with a spectrum of audiences in India and other countries. "We staged it first in 1996, and ever since, whenever we think of giving it a quiet burial, some invitation comes up," laughs Sabina Mehta Jaitly, Director of Yatrik since 2003 when she took over from Founder-Director Joy Michael.

In the past year, Yatrik was invited by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to stage "9, Jakhoo Hill" at the International Festival of the Arts in Grahamstown, South Africa. Sabina recalls feeling they should perform something more "avant-garde" at a festival known for showcasing atypical productions. However, despite being "a traditional, proscenium type of play", it was named the Pick of the Season and received rave reviews. Those are already memories though. Theatre is always about here and now. And `here' means Chennai now!

The Director's Cut

Sunit Tandon

To what do you attribute the success of "9, Jakhoo Hill"?

We first had a few sessions with the playwright, Gurcharan Das, and felt it needed a bit of rewriting — like the way Indians speak English. Then I held a workshop for the actors and used techniques to make it more authentic.

Does playing one of the major roles make direction a greater challenge?

I prefer not to mix the two, but this time I had to step in.

ANJANA RAJAN