Saanp Seedhi, Shubhrajyoti Barat’s take on Sleuth, arrives in Bengaluru: cast and director share insights
It’s all twists and turns when it comes to Anthony Shaffer’s acclaimed 1970 play Sleuth. The Tony Award-winning play found a huge audience in the theatres as well with Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier who starred in the 1972 adaptation and the 2007 flick starring Jude Law. Now we witness this intense twocharacter play being adapted for Hindi audiences by Aadyam Theatre, with the nuances of the characters being brought to life by actors Kumud Mishra and Sumeet Vyas. Helming this play is ace thespian Shubhrajyoti Barat. After a successful reception in Mumbai, the mystery finds its way to Bengaluru. We talk to them about their roles, the characters, the supense and more!
Mystery of 'Saanp Seedhi' and a dive into the characters
Shubhrajyoti, what specific elements of Sleuth compelled you to adapt it for the Hindi stage?
Sleuth is very intriguing to my mind in terms of the human fallacies that it shows. People, when their egos are challenged, to what extent they are ready to go — to the extent of being self-destructive, to one-up somebody else. Structurally, Sleuth starts with a resolution instead of a conflict and I found that to be quite interesting.
Sumeet and Kumud, tell us about your characters?
Sumeet Vyas: My character, Mayank Tiwari, on the face of it, he’s a pretty straightforward and earnest sort of a person. However, when Kumud’s character pushes some wrong buttons, you suddenly unravel a side of his personality that you don’t see coming. I was very keen about the fact that I got to do a physical and an audiovisual transition — have a voice for it, have a body for it. That was a bit challenging — to be able to do that convincingly without making it farcical.
Kumud Mishra: It was not too difficult to get into my character but it was really fun. It was as challenging as slipping into other characters. My character is a bit different from my own personality, so it was enjoyable playing him.
What are your takes on Bengaluru’s theatre scene?
Sumeet: I have been to Bengaluru many times, especially to perform plays. So, my impression of Bengaluru is a very artistic impression, which I like. I particularly like performing at Ranga Shankara. It is built by theatre people and that’s pretty evident when you go and perform there. So, I’m looking forward to performing there.
Kumud: I have been to Bengaluru a lot. I have a very old connection with Bengaluru. I have studied in Belgaum, in a boarding school. I have been to Beng alur u’s military school. I have been to NCC camps. We have been to the theatres in the city a lot. Ranga Shankara is one of my favourite places to perform. But when I come here, I start with a set dosa and go on from there. The audience here is very aware of the play. All of our shows have been housefull. They know how much we love them.
Sumeet and Kumud, both of you have shared screen space in a well-loved hit series like TVF’s Tripling. Any update you can give us on a new season?
Sumeet: It’s with the network right now and they are going through their schedules. So, I would love to do one more season of Tripling. We pitched a certain storyline to them. Let’s hope they like it and it falls into their scheme of things.
What are your upcoming projects?
Sumeet: So, there is this one show for Netflix that I’ve just finished shooting for. It’s called Shak. It’s got Parineeti Chopra, Tahir Basin, Jennifer Winget and myself. It is directed by Rensil D’Silva. Hopefully by the end of this year, it should come out. Then there is another show I’d done for JioHotstar last year, which is nearing completion now. So, I’m hoping by the year’s end, we should see some stuff that I’ve done.
Shubhrajyoti: In cinema, I have done a small role in Jolly LLB 3. I have been in talks with a couple of other projects. One project that I’m really excited about is going to take place in the Northeast based on a true story. In theatre, we have Kaumudi, a play by Abhishek Majumdar. We have Purane Chawal, a play directed by Sumeet Vyas, an adaptation of Neil Simon’s Sunshine Boys and much more!