Veteran actress Ila Arun brings two thought provoking plays to Bengaluru

“I am very excited because we are coming to Bengaluru with a play after 25 years,” the actress shares
Ila Arun in Miracle in Matunga Street
Ila Arun in Miracle in Matunga Street

In 1982, actress and singer Ila Arun started the theatre company, Surnai Theatre and Folk Arts Foundation. To celebrate its 40th anniversary this year, the Mumbai-based organisation is  bringing down two plays to Bengaluru — Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke and Miracle on Matunga Street. “I am very excited because we are coming to Bengaluru with a play after 25 years,” the veteran actress shares. Both plays are contemporary and raise pertinent questions about social issues. While Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke is an original play written by Ila Arun, Miracle on Matunga Street is an adaptation of a play by New York-based playwright Tom Dudzik. 

On the right path
“When we were under lockdown, we were all frustrated and depressed — especially us actors. I had a lot of stories in my mind at that time. And I was waiting to express myself. Over the years, I’ve written and adapted many plays, so there is a writer in me who is always desperate to pen her thoughts,” she tells, when asked about the inception of Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke. The play is set in the year 2020, at a time when public parks were reopened after being closed due to the pandemic. Two senior citizens resume their regular walks in the local park after a long break. When they meet on the same path every day, a friendship blossoms between them. “It is not just a love story. It also showcases how people, especially senior citizens, were extremely lonely during the early days of the pandemic,” she adds. 

Family matters
Through the other play, Miracle on Matunga Street, it is questions of religion and politics that are brought to the fore. The production is based on Tom Dudzik’s Miracle on South Division Street, a play about a working class family in New York. Ila has adapted it to the South Indian Catholic neighbourhood of Matunga in Mumbai. While the original deals with themes of Judaism and Christianity, in the Indian context, the matters of faith become more complex and nuanced. It follows a matriarch called Tulsa Harry Peter, and her three children. Tulsa is holding on to her habits and set ways of life very dearly. But when a life-changing “miracle” occurs, many family secrets unravel. The story is equal parts funny and thought-
provoking. 

“The play is very contemporary. I have adapted Tom Dudzik’s plays before and I love his unique writing style. He talks about serious social issues, but in a humorous way. He questions faith and relationships, but he is not political, and it is always set within the context of the family. The canvas of these topics is India is very broad, and at the same time very sensitive. So adapting this was challenging for me,” she signs off.

Rs 500. August 13 (Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke) & August 14 (Miracle in Matunga Street). At Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar

anagha@newindianexpress.com 
@anaghzzz

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