Fragmented friendships

Gasha, an Indian Ensemble production, is a tale of friendship set against the Kashmir imbroglio

A relationship Set against the Kashmir imbroglio

“Where is the Kashmiri Pandit today? What is the state of Kashmiri youth now?” These are some of the issues that have been explored in Gasha . An Indian Ensemble production, Gasha developed from a collaboration between Payal Wadhwa, playwright Irawati Karnik, director Abhishek Majumdar, sociologist Subhashim Goswami and actors Sandeep Shikhar and Adhir Bhat.

Abhishek, who conceived the plot of Gasha , says his first two critically-acclaimed plays based in Kashmir, Rizwan and Djinns of Eidgah , did not look into the stories of the Kashmiri Pandit, most of who now live outside Kashmir. “The other broader question that Gasha explores is: how does one represent something of which there is no one version?” says Abhishek over phone.

Gasha will be performed in Hindi, Urdu and Kashmiri, and revolves around the lives of two young boys, one a Kashmiri Muslim and the other a Kashmiri Pandit. Set against the Kashmir imbroglio,

Gasha is a moving story of friendship. Abhishek, however, emphasises that the play is not a documentary on Kashmir. “We live in a fragmented society, so, the conflict in Kashmir is a universal issue that will resonate with the audience.”

Like most Indian Ensemble productions,

Gasha is “a reflective play”. About what the audience should look forward to, Abhishek says: “They should come to watch an evening of entertaining and devised theatre performance. It is a very humorous play that boils down to a relationship between two 10-year-old boys and how history stands between them later.”

Performed by Sandeep Shikhar and Adhir Bhat, Gasha will be staged at Alliance Francaise on December 7 at 7.30 p.m. and December 8 at 3.30 and 7.30 p.m.

Tickets are available at www.indianstage.in and www.bookmyshow.com at the venue, and are priced at Rs. 200. For telebookings call 9886324733.