BENGALURU : They say the spiciest gossip happens in the green room. Taking us backstage is Vinay Shastry, founder-director, VASP Production, who, through a new chat show, will spill the beans on backstage happenings. To celebrate the milestone of turning 11 this year, the city-based theatre group has come up with a show called Greenroom Guttugalu, on their YouTube channel which has various theatre personalities as guests.
Breaking down the meaning of the show’s name, Shastry explains that greenroom comes from its theatre association while ‘guttugalu’ translates into secrets in Kannada. “There is always so much talk about what happens behind the scenes in any show.
We’ve tried to bring that out, and also show young actors through the experience of seasoned actors that theatre is not just about acting and directing. It’s a whole experience in itself,” says Shastry, adding that the first season has 11 episodes and they are currently on episode six. “Since the show also coincided with the production house turning 11, we decided to have 11 guests for the season,” he adds.
The idea of a chat show was brewing in Shastry’s mind for the last four years, but it never translated into action owing to financial constraints, and just being caught up in various productions. But with not much production happening during the lockdown, Shastry decided to finally get working on the project. “There were many constraints around a project like this especially in the current scenario.
We faced two main problems, the first being finding guests, who were initially apprehensive to do an outdoor shoot in these times. Second, was finding a venue,” says Shastry. So when Shankaraa Foundation on Kanakapura Road agreed to give space for the show, Shastry, naturally, heaved a sigh of relief.
With an array of chat shows around, Shastry says the differentiator is the content. “I agree there are many fun chat shows which is why they do well. But there are hardly any which involve theatre artistes. Many senior artistes such as Babu Hirannaiah, Keerthi Bhanu, Sundarasri Gubbi and others will be sharing how theatre has evolved over a period of time,” says Shastry, adding that there is no proper documentation in the theatre world. Tight-lipped about other details, Shastry only asserts that the conversation is going to be far from boring.