Anmol Vellani’s Hindi play, Apne Ghar Jaisa, features film and theatre actor Padmavati Rao and Abhitej Gupta
The play revolves around a woman, who does anything and everything to turn away an unwelcome guest. In doing so, she enters a dark place within herself as she constructs caricatures of people ‘not like us’, and destroys the very thing she cherishes and wants to preserve.
Padmavati, who has carved a niche for herself with Hindi films Teen, Padmavat and the award-winning Kannada film Ondaondu Kaladalli, says over the phone, “The woman rents out a room and waits for a tenant. She begins to wonder about the person who may rent her room and fights her own assumptions, which are dominated by her own life experiences and beliefs.”
An active theatre practitioner for years, Padmavati says that over 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 too. Learning never ends for anyone, and working with Anmol is an experience to treasure. He is alert and agile in his thinking, yet, particular in the way he wants to bring his thoughts to visuals.”
Understanding Anmol’s need for perfection and given the parameters of the script, which Padmavati wrote, the actor says she was given a certain amount of liberty to bring her ideas onto the stage. “Anmol is a demanding director, but if you follow what he needs for the play, then you see the fluidity that comes into motion and the jugalbandi that happens between the actors, director, sound engineer and the entire team involved in the production.”
Apne Ghar Jaisa will be staged on April 21 and 22, 7.30pm at Ranga Shankara. Tickets, ₹200, on BookMyShow.
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Depicting Draupadi on stage
Dharini Komal, the founder of Komal Theatre in Chennai, brings the play Draupadi to Bengaluru this weekend. Having written and directed the play, Dharini describes the play as a mega theatrical production, with song and dance. “It is about Draupadi, the heroic princess of the Mahabharata. She was a multi-talented and strong woman with an unbending will, an enigmatic woman of substance”
Dharini says the play depicts Draupadi as a woman of the Dvapara Yuga and how she is deceived by circumstances. “She is torn between the power struggle and ego of the men in her life. The play also questions if she was forced into marrying the five men and how she dealt with the challenges of being their wife.
A scene from the play Draupadi | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The play in Tamil has travelled across India and had shows in Dubai and Muscat recently. “We realised that language is never a barrier to enjoying the play. A member of the audience told us that he did not understand every word of the play, but he could relate to every emotion enacted on stage.”
The play has music by Raj Kumar Bharathi, grandson of Mahakavi Bharathi, and poetry by Satish Kumar with verses from Bharathiyar’s Paanjaali Sabatham.
Draupadi will be staged at Bangalore Gayana Samaja on April 22, at 6pm. Tickets on BookMyShow.
