Casting complete!

Well, considering we’re less than 2 weeks away from opening this show, it’s about time we found all the actors we need!

I am pleased to announce that Ravi Sathyam and CP Ramakrishnan have joined the Kanyadaan team, and will be playing the roles of Baman Seth Neurgaonkar and Hamir Rao Kamble respectively. Next step – add their names to the website!

So if you’re a fan of Ravi or CP – get your tickets now, for they are about to make their Pratidhwani debut!

Getting into Arun’s skin

"हम तो चोरी से सराब चुवाएँगे!"

What creates a criminal ? Actually that’s still a reasonably easy question to answer. A criminal could be created if one is hungry for money or lust or anything one desires and he decides to break norms of society for his advantage at cost of others. A harder question is what creates a sadist? How can someone derive pleasure in troubling others, even if it does not help him in any way? How does one justify these kinds of acts to himself? Is it the environment in which you are raised that determines the outcome or is it simply genetic i.e. some people have just been created that way?

These are the questions I need to answer before I can get myself completely into Arun’s skin. More than memorizing my lines in script, more than rehearsals, more than interacting with other characters, I have been spending most of my time these days diving deep into the questions above . I am fabricating events not mentioned in the script, that might have happened in Arun’s past, and may bring consistency to his behavior in the play.

The hardest part in the role is judging when he is actually sincere and when is he pretending, what is his mental state at a given point, and what is his objective in any action of his. He is clearly not a kind of person I meet often – some times he fears a house  and at a different time, he would not fear murdering someone. He is definitely a product of emotions and experiences of a scale which I have never endured in my life. And I have to bring them alive to the audience. That’s the part of my job. That’s the part of the fun.

First official run through!

We had our first complete run through this afternoon. At this stage in the rehearsal process, the focus is still on finding the motivation of these characters and getting an understanding of WHY they’re doing what they’re doing. The cast is nearly off book – but not completely. There is still some calling for lines, some paraphrasing, and some referring to the script … but we’re getting there. As the lines get more firm, so will the commitment to the choices our actors are making.

What also became obvious to me during today’s run through, was that in addition to being complex and complicated, how heart breaking this play really is. As Jyoti (played by Aditi Chaubal) gets through her monologue in the last scene of the play, I can only imagine how crushed a father would be, to hear the truth – so bluntly told – by his own daughter. I expect to hear sniffling in the house during the final black out. We might even sell boxes of Kleenex during intermission!

Oh, how I love this play!

We have a website!

Thanks to all the hard work put in by Shringar Kala and Apeksha Godiyal – we have a website for Kanyadaan! Check it out at http://www.pratidhwani.org/kanyadaan – read more about the play, cast and crew, about Pratidhwani – and of course, get your tickets while you’re there!

Blocking complete

When putting together a play, one of the most important piece is the physical, movement aspect. Although some scripts include a few stage directions, ultimately, it’s up to the director to determine what’s on the stage, where the entry/exit points are, where the actors go on and off from, where they stop on the stage, when they sit or stand or walk, etc. This is known as blocking, sometimes referred to as ‘putting the play on its feet’. Well, Kanyadaan is now on its feet.

The next step is to get off-book, and fine tune all the amazing moments in this script. This is a heart wrenching drama, and the deeper we dig, the more amazement pours out! Excitement grows with every rehearsal.

Congratulations and thanks to Manaswita!

Manaswita Mahan was a part of our ensemble cast in ‘गारे की दीवार’ (2008), and played a major role in ‘यम ने बना दी जोड़ी’ (2009). Recently, Manaswita decided to get married and moved to Chennai. We at Pratidhwani are so happy for Manaswita and send her our best wishes. In return, Manaswita sent us some pictures!

Kanyadaan moment from Manaswita's wedding

One of these pictures captures the ‘kanyadaan’ moment from her wedding ceremony – and when I saw the picture, I simply could not look away. For some reason, this picture connected with our upcoming production perfectly in my mind, and immediately, I forwarded it to our publicity team. May be it’ll end up on our posters, postcards and website – may be it won’t… but either way, many thanks to Manaswita for sharing her life changing event with us, and congratulations once again!

Act 1 Table Work

The cast met this Sunday and started working on Act 1 in a little more detail.

When I first read this play, I liked it immediately. A powerful story, with strong characters; familiar themes, but unpredictable events; easy to produce, but not an easy play from actors’ perspective. Yesterday, as we started reading through act 1, and started analyzing the text in a little more detail, I couldn’t help but get really excited about this play. There are layers here – so many layers that it gives each of the actors all the room they need to craft their character just right – to make their performances ‘juicy’ and interesting for the audience, and for the audience to form, change and then re-from their opinions and impressions of the people who’s stories we’ll tell.

It is a serious play – but I can’t imagine how anyone would walk out, without being completely exhilarated by it. There is so much work left to be done – in fact we’ve just got started, but already I can’t wait to see Kanyadaan on stage!

Getting Started

The cast met a few weeks ago for the first read through, and it was obvious to all of us, that kanyadaan is going to be the hardest play any of us has done to date. These characters seem normal, but the struggles they are going through are not for the average person. The challenge of this play is also the source of excitement, and we’re all looking forward to dive into it.

On the production side, we are starting to assemble our PR team, and soon, we’ll recruit a crew. If you’re interested in getting involved in Pratidhwani’s kanyadaan, please feel free to contact us.