Mitramandal Bengaluru will present a Marathi play 38 Krushna Villa. The play, written by Shweta Pendse, is directed by Vijay Kenkare, produced by Mihir Gawali and has music composed by Ajit Parab.
Shweta says she can not recall the specific moment she decided to write 38 Krushna Villa, “Or the moment when the idea was conceptualised in my mind. But I would say it started a decade ago, when I was studying about schizophrenia for one of my plays which revolved around a neuro surgeon suffering from this disorder. The idea for 38 Krushna Villa came into being while I was researching for that play,” says Shweta.
She also believes “writers are rather cruel. They can see drama in every situation. I cannot share much about the central idea of 38 Krushna Villa or there will be no suspense left for the audience to look forward to. But, it does revolve around two central characters and their human complexities from the start to finish.”
The play will feature Shewta and Girish Oak in the play which is “based on literature and thriller,” says Sanjeev Keskar, former president and a committee member of Mitramandal. “Both Shwetha and Girish are popular theatre artistes in Maharashtra. The play has been staged 200 times already and the 201st show will be its debut in Bengaluru,” shares Sanjeev Keskar, ex president of Mritramandal.
38 Krushna Villa has won many awards — Zee Natya Gaurav 2023 in the categories of best drama, best director, best actor (Girish), best music and best lights (Shital Talpade), Majha Puraskar’s (from ABP Majha channel) best writer (Shweta) and best actor (Girish) to name a few.
Sanjeev shares a brief history about Mitramandal. “We are a 40-year-old socio-cultural organization, associated with over 5,000 plus members from Marathi-speaking families based in and around Indiranagar, Koramangala, Marathahalli, Whitefield to name a few. It was started by Rahul Dravid’s parents, Pushpa and Sharad Dravid, as a space for casual get togethers for Marathi families in Bengaluru. Then, we started coming together for festivities and eventually, with the IT boom in Bengaluru, there was a huge influx of Maharashtrians to the city and we started organising many social and cultural events throughout the year. In fact, we also have a sports award in the name of Sharad Dravid, which is given away to promising sportsmen from Bengaluru.”
The actors with director Vijay Kenkare | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
About the play, says Sanjeev, “We cannot bring plays from Maharashtra all the time as transporting the stage set and designs becomes tedious. Since we have members from our association who act and direct plays, we stage them in Bengaluru regularly,” says Sanjeev.
The play will be staged on February 4, 10am at New Horizon Engineering College Auditorium. Tickets on BookMyShow.
