BENGALURU: Actor and comedian Saurabh Shukla, known for his role in Jolly LLB, will make a comback to theatre after 18 years. He started his career in acting with theatre.
Written and directed by him, the play ‘2 to Tango 3 to Jive’ is about Parminder Singh Sethi’s mundane life and how he, tangled in the web of mixed emotions and vexed choices, deals with midlife crisis. Saurabh will be playing the role of Parminder Singh Sethi. He says, “This comedy drama chronicles Parminder’s journey as it ebbs and flows with practical, comic, ambivalent, confusing and passionate tides on a stage. Each of us have a different way of dealing with a crisis. But how does Parminder deal with his midlife crisis and what happens when three women enter the picture. What’s guaranteed is that these flaming personalities on stage when thrown together in the cauldron of life turn up the heat... leaving things more complex than ever.”
He adds that he does relate to his character Parminder. “He is a product of society and is bound by its morality. He wants to come across as a sensitive, traditionally rooted man, but he is questioned why he chooses to show this double face. He’s a confused character, who is neither good nor bad.”
For his theatre, he chose comedy as he wanted to connect to a larger audience. “I wanted to do a comedy that is meaningful. So I stumbled upon on the very interesting state of human life – the midlife crisis. When you go through it, it’s very confusing to deal with but it is very funny when you observe or think about it. So I decided to do this play about a man’s attempt to find love in extra marital affairs in his midlife.”
It took around four months to complete the script of the play. He says the challenges during the writing phase were to keep the fun elements intact while dealing with human complexes. Ask why it is named “2 to Tango 3 to Jive”, he says, “As they say in English, 2 is company, 3 is chaos. Also tango is a dance form that’s suitable with 2 but jive is a more messy form of dance that needs atleast 3 to do justice to it. Same with the play... as our main male character in the play is caught between 3 beautiful ladies, which creates confusion and chaos in his life.”
The play recently completed 100 shows. The cast also includes Achint Kaur, Sadiya Siddiqui and Preeti Mamgain.It is a fundraiser event being organised in aid of Round Table India’s national initiative of Freedom Through Education. All proceeds will go towards the education of underprivileged children.
CATCH THE PLAY
Enjoy the actor’s return to theatre with a play on midlife crisis and extramarital affair in the city.
Where:Chowdiah Memorial Hall
When: June 3, 7pm.