And beyond. That his work is sometimes deeply embedded in the Indian ethos and at others, involved in global discourses is merely the mark of what it means to be a living playwright and theatre maker who is deeply committed to consistently pushing the boundaries of the theatre both inwards and outwards. He confronts perplexing political and environmental issues, ruffling feathers across the spectrum and throwing up important new ways of understanding our world.
When the pandemic closed down the theatres, he joined a food, oxygen and healthcare distribution network while also writing for the digital stage to highlight those very issues. But like most theatre people, he travels and produces work around the world, collaborating and cutting across liminal spaces to make work and meaning β meaningful work. Growing up in Delhi, you have this innate ease of transitioning between at least four languages.
I really enjoyed the rehearsals. I became very fond of Hindi theatre. Writing came much later. I started writing short stories when I entered college. After graduating with pure science, you got a degree in Business Administration and then became a techie working for a software company in Bangalore.
So, from watching plays and rehearsals, to music, to software, to acting, and then to writing and directing. And it is so very difficult to subsist on theatre in India. I found it too exciting to do anything else β meanwhile I had to make a living. After Management school, I took the first job in Bangalore [3] that came my way, because I had to meet my sister who was returning from the US. Ranga Shankara , [4] that was so vital to my career, opened the same year Between these two years, I had the privilege to sit in with Veenapani Chawla at Adishakti.
They were trying to figure out their own method, rehearsing for their retrospective. Then I was among their first batch of trainees in , seeing the process of training, rehearsal and the making of the work. But in Adishakti, it came together: I could think, and I could be physical.
