Is it a comedy of manners? Or a comedy of ideas? In life, we meet a lot of people who help us become the person we end up being. And even if they are not meant to be in our lives forever, the lessons they teach us remain a constant. One might argue that Chuhal, an impending play by Hyderabad-based ensemble Kriti Stories and Kissago uncover a marriage of convenience. When Sudheer comes to meet Aarti for the nuptials, he re-assesses his existential tussle — how he wants to be and how he wishes to live life. Written by writer-cum-actor Manav Kaul, Chuhal caters to the millennial audience. The core idea borrows from how arranged marriages happen in tier-1, tier-2 and tier-3 towns. “Also, how all of it compares to love marriages in contrast,” director of the play, Pallavi Verma Minnaganti tells us, adding that she is currently based in Hyderabad and has been practising theatre in the city for the last 14 years.
The performance scouts who we are, the fundamental sense of companionship — that in this brutal world, amidst all the victories, grief and letdowns, all we have are the connections we make. While the denouement of the play’s open-ended narrative is poetry interspersed with comic reliefs, it would seem all too expected and all too perfect. “A good script is one that teaches — less is more. When I read it, I imagined him experimenting with improv while navigating through the angst the protagonists go through. The hero of the script would ask himself the lingering question of what he was doing on earth. He is very light on his feet for such puzzles, mazes and dilemmas,” Pallavi shares.
There is no real explanation as to why one falls in love. The piece also underscores an aspirational relationship. We catch up with Jonas David who plays Sudheer. Jonas shares that he is a director’s actor. To him, it is the director who tries to tell the story with his acting being a part of it. The full-time theatre artiste who is also open to performing in Telugu films, refers to his character as an underdog — a class teacher in a government school whose mother just passed away. “He is someone different,” Jonas tells us, and we ask why. “He is introspective. He thinks about why things do not go his way and between him and the people he is involved with. Aarti (played by Shailja Chaturvedi) is completely opposite. She is everything he can never be and that’s how the two connect.”
`300. July 28 and 29. At Rangbhoomi Spaces & Events, Gachibowli. chokita@newindian express.com @PaulChokita