Khaled Hosseini's 'The Kite Runner' comes to Delhi's theatre world

Come October and Khaled Hosseini’s 2003 classic The Kite Runner is all set to be staged in Delhi.
Glimpses from the play The Kite Runner''
Glimpses from the play The Kite Runner''

Afghan-American writer Khaled Hosseini’s debut book, The Kite Runner, explored the traumatic world of the Afghans, especially the children. It shattered many a heart with words such as: ‘There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood.’ The memorable tale of love and friendship, betrayal and redemption, good and evil, juxtaposed against the turbulent backdrop of wartime Afghanistan, has now been adapted into a play under the fifth edition of the Aditya Birla Group’s theatre initiative, Aadyam. It is now set to be staged at Delhi’s Kamaani Auditorium on October 5 and 6. 

A powerful story about two close friends, Amir and Hassan, who fly kites together in Kabul, the 2003 classic has previously been adapted for the screen in 2007 with direction by Marc Forster and screenplay by David Benioff. Like the book, the play’s central themes revolve around betrayal, cowardice, friendship, guilt, loss and redemption. Besides, the play also touches on subjects such as classicism in Afghanistan as well as the politics and the definition of manhood in Afghani culture.

Writer, producer, director and actor Akarsh Khurana says that he chanced on the script in a Dubai bookshop. “I was curious, but for some reason I leafed through the book and didn’t buy it,” he recalls during rehearsals. He chanced on it again—this time at a bookshop in Bengaluru; he thought it was a sign. Subsequently, he bought it, read it and loved it. “Then it was only a matter of time,” he says.

Among the play’s older cast is Akarsh’s father, Akash Khurana, and Kumud Mishra, who plays three different parts. The younger lot includes Abhishek Saha, Adhaar Khurana, Muskkaan Jaferi and Nipun Dharmadhikari. Given that most of the cast plays multiple characters, a lot of work went into characterisation. “It is not an easy play to perform, and I love the homework each cast member has done,” reveals Akarsh.

Award-winning American playwright, director and professor of performance studies Matthew Spangler is the person responsible for adapting the novel into a play. He says that while writing each adaptation is challenging in different ways, with The Kite Runner, the challenge lay in the epic quality of the novel, which spans two continents, three decades and features an incredible number of engaging characters. “Reading the 300-plus pages aloud would take something like 15 to 18 hours.

The challenge was transforming this into a two-hour stage play and have fans of the book say, ‘You didn’t leave anything out’,” he says. Matthew adds that the art of adaptation is a “pleasurable challenge—just the way employing a craft brings its own pleasure.” He also believes that no play succeeds purely because of the writer, and instead is indebted to its entire cast and crew. “I am deeply grateful to the team in Mumbai and Delhi for taking this on,” he smiles.

While the play has not been specifically adapted for Indian audiences, it is a multi-layered story at the heart of it all. “I’ve always had an affinity for stories set in the Middle East or Western Asia. It’s culturally interesting, emotionally quite like India, and the conflict is inherent. It resonates with audiences,” explains Akarsh. He says that the nine-show run for The Kite Runner has been an ambitious and demanding undertaking. “It is beautifully and heartbreakingly written, with memorable characters and dialogue that will stay with you long after the curtain comes down. It deals with powerful human emotions and the devastating effects of war,” says Shernaz Patel, artistic director for Aadyam.

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