Cancer survivor Priya Joshi has a story worth narrating on stage. As the protagonist of the Hindi play Aur Shama Jalti Rahi… organised by Saksham Foundation and Marathi Katta, the homemaker is set to make her acting debut with a theatrical production that depicts her struggle against cancer and how she finds hope and courage to live on.
Directed by Nitin Basarur, the one-hour-50-minutes-long monologue (with a few voiceovers and a 10-minute interval) captures Priya’s own story. She relives the phase of her life from the time she was first diagnosed with cancer during a routine checkup to a year of treatment filled with physical and mental struggles and how her family coped with it.
Priya was 37 in 2005 when she was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer (third stage) and shifted from Jodhpur to Pune for treatment. “Once I got cured, my sister asked me to pen down the experiences to get it out of my system,” recollects Priya.
Priya Joshi | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
The scribbles in her diary turned out to be a practical guide, with details of different situations and thought processes of not only the patient but also the family. “When my sister also got diagnosed with cancer in 2017, the diary proved to be her bedside companion and motivator,” says Priya. That’s when Priya began to post pages of her diary through social media and a Marathi blog.
Her husband, who is with the army, was transferred to Hyderabad. When Priya moved to the city, the diary was launched as a Marathi book Ek Tha Cancer in 2020. While she was reading excerpts of her book at a Marathi literature club meeting, veteran theatre personality Bhaskar Shewalkar was moved and insisted that they should get this story on stage.
“I never thought I would act in a play! Bhaskar (Shewalkar) sir and director Nitin felt I should enact the role myself. But it had to be a a Hindi play, to reach out to a wider audience,” recalls Priya, who then translated her Marathi book into Hindi for the play.
Change in perspective
During rehearsals | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Reliving those moments during rehearsals has been tough. “It is not easy, but when you accept life with its good and bad experiences, the perspective creates a flicker of hope and gives the courage to move ahead with positivity. Cancer has been a lesson — to value even small things and people that we take for granted,” she says.
Priya used voiceovers and minimal sets of a house and a garden to express herself. “The aim is to show how as a family or team, one can find ways and means to tackle it with medical help. This is not just about cancer but any situation in life that doesn’t happen the way we want it to.”
Moving play
Director Nitin Basarur recollects the first time he heard Priya read her story. “It was quite moving and I felt if we do a play, no other artiste could enact the role better than her,” he recalls. Also, the creative writer for the production, Nitin, who works for a Japanese company, tweaked the words to suit the drama format.
The team had begun rehearsals in December 2019 with plans to stage the play in April 2020. Then the pandemic struck, and they had to put the plans on hold. Now they are happy to finally see the play on stage after a wait of two years.
Aur Shama Jalti Rahi to be staged at Telangana Saraswatha Parishath, Boggulkunta on July 9, 6:30pm; Donor pass: ₹300 on bookmyshow.com
