Tagore, the poet. Tagore, the man. And everything in between. aRANYA Mumbai’s Colour Blind , premiering this Saturday in Chennai, is a unique take on the life and times of poet Rabindranath Tagore, and brings audiences a fresh perspective on the man behind the legend. Co-written by Kalki Koechlin, Dwijottam Bhattacharjee and Manav Kaul (also its director), the production features solo songs in Bengali and gently weaves the journey of Tagore’s life into the narrative. “Manav assumes an intelligent audience,” says Kalki, who reveals that her director was a tough taskmaster, making the process of creating the play both immensely challenging and rewarding.
“We spent five months reading and researching. He’d call me in the middle of my shoots when I was in the U.S. for Happy Ending, ” she says with a laugh. “He’s great because he pushes us for more. And since he’s always a few steps ahead of us, we’d have to catch up.”
One of the characters she plays is a young girl who’s researching Tagore, and the format is such that the character also doubles up as a narrator who provides a brief timeline of his life. “The play has a fun, comic side to it,” she says, of its appeal to young audiences.
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Kalki confesses that the experience of performing at the Fest holds special significance for her, as she won the MetroPlus Playwright Award in 2009 for the play
Colour Blind will be staged at Sir Venkata Subba Rao Concert Hall on August 23 at 7.30 p.m.