Rwenowned Irish poet and playwright, Oscar Wilde couldn’t have been more right when he said that he regards theatre as the greatest of all art forms, as it is the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being. Theatre director Anmol Vellani brings his play Apne Ghar Jaisa to the stage this weekend and other than Anmol’s direction, one can also look forward to the performance by Padmavati Rao, who plays the lead role in the production. We talk to Anmol, who lets us in on the forthcoming performance, working with Padmavati and much more...
“The play is an adaptation of a play titled Oldenberg by English actor and writer Barry Bermange. I have changed the context of the play to the present time in India. I have stuck to the original plot, but I have changed other things like the scene has been set in Mumbai. A woman is waiting for their new tenant to arrive and her husband is out for some urgent work,” Anmol begins.
.jpg?w=640&auto=format%2Ccompress)
The play is about everyday bigotry, which is taking over society. This bigotry has always been there because ours is a hierarchical society, where there are many stereotypes and prejudices about caste, ethnicity and more.
Revealing why he chose to adapt the English play, the director says, “The primary reason is that the play is very pertinent to the situation in our country and it is relevant to what one sees happening around. For example, in the play, the lady is waiting for the new tenant to arrive, but the name of the tenant is something she finds odd, because she hasn’t come across that name before. In the starting, she is joyful thinking about how nice it would be to have a paying guest in house, but she is not fully convinced having the person over.”
The lady wants to find a reason to not let the man be part of their house even though initially she wanted him to stay with them and treat the person like her own son. But she soon starts to question everything, starting from why they are letting a person live with them for so little money. Then she starts to question the name of the person (Shakeen) and makes a point in her mind that he is not a Marathi. Therefore, the idea of ‘he is not us’ comes into play.
Talking about how Padmavati Rao came to be a part of the production, the playwright says, “Once our production was commissioned, we had to find an actor. We were thinking of many actors around the country who might be perfect for the role. We even asked for actors from other parts of the country, but
most of them were not free because we had given them a very short notice. Then someone told me to talk to Padmavati Rao and she struck me as someone who would do quite well and she also seemed to be keen on doing the part. So, that’s how it all came about.”
Sharing on how his interest in theatre began, Anmol says, “I was born into an artistic family. My father
was an actor, playwright, filmmaker and a director while my mother studied music and performed in various festivals. So, I grew up in that environment. I used to go with my father to places where my father used to act or direct. That’s where my interest began and I started doing theatre in college. Then, I was part of a theatre group in Mumbai and then I shifted to Pune, where I was part of another theatre group. That was followed by my stint in England where I did three or four plays in Cambridge.”
₹200. April 21, 7.30 pm; April 22, 3.30 pm & 3.30 pm. At Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar.
Email: alwin@newindianexpress.com
Twitter: @al_ben_so