As human beings, we are obsessed with speed. We are inherently pioneers, always striving to be first – first to the finish line, first to market, first to the future. Whether we are consuming content at 1.5x speed while multitasking, or using AI to “optimize” our lives – the drive to get to something, or […]
The Physics Of Ambition Read Post »
Delhi: A frigid morning in December of 1971. A woman, two children in tow, walk into the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station and claim to be the legitimate descendants of the last Nawab of Awadh: Wajid Ali Shah. In the colorful country that is India, such an act would have been easily dismissed as the rantings
Dispossession, Displacement, and Disappointment. Read Post »
Imagine the coming to power of an autocratic, vindictive and right wing leader who seeks to take away all those freedoms that you hold dearly. Feels familiar? No, I am not talking about current affairs, even though I may as well be. That is the premise of our upcoming play Vijay Tendulkar’s magnum opus, Ghasiram
Ghasiram Kotwal – The Making of a Classic Read Post »
Gaslighting verb the act or practice of grossly misleading someone, especially for one’s own advantage (Merriam-Webster) It is quite uncommon for a noun to evolve into a verb. In contemporary times, certain technologies and services have become so deeply ingrained in our daily lives that they require action words of their own, such as “Googling”
Into the Shadows of Gaslight Read Post »
Shatranj ke Khiladi is a brilliant socio-political satire by Munshi Prem Chand that has been adapted for stage by Naatak in this 2023 production. Set in the 1850s, the plot showcases an indifferent and decadent aristocracy against the backdrop of the annexation of Awadh by the British Army. Awadh was annexed from Nawab Wajid Ali
Shatranj Ke Khiladi – Bringing Awadh Alive Read Post »
Hayavadan is perhaps Girish Karnad’s best known and most-performed play along with Tughlaq, which Naatak has staged back in 2010. I directed a staged reading of the play back in 2015 and the warm response for the raw script reading opened my eyes to the possibilities of staging the play as a full scale theater
Reimagining a classic by Girish Karnad Read Post »
In February 2015, Khadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum – three young teenage girls living in Bethnal Green, East London – left their seemingly normal lives that revolved around family and friends without warning and disappeared. The next they were seen or heard of was on grainy airport security camera footage, boarding a Turkish
Belief or Blood? Or Both? Read Post »
Middle Country The land in which Siddharth Gautam was born is known as Majjhim Des in Pali texts – the Sanskrit equivalent is Madhyam Desh, or Middle Country. Lying on the eastern fringes of Aryavarta, Madhyam Desh stretches from modern-day Kanpur in the west to Bengal in the east, and much of it is confined
From the director’s desk: Siddharth Gautam Read Post »
We need more comedy in our lives. Our jobs are too stressful, our politics is too polarized, and our food is too fattening. A perfect time then to kick back and unwind with Neil’s Simon’s RUMORS, the first play of our silver jubilee season, that also serves as a cleverly disguised cleansing agent for stress
MAKING A FARCE OF IT Read Post »
It is said that we are born knowing the Mahabharat and Ramayan. The epics come to us so often, at such an early age and from so many sources that we can never remember the first time we heard them. Every telling is a re-telling. That “Raavan kidnapped Sita” and “Krishna was Arjun’s charioteer” is
ALL TALES EVER TOLD: MAHABHARAT Read Post »
