For Delhiites who love plays, this Sunday will be a theatrical delight. Actors Anupam Kher and Neena Gupta will perform award-winning acts at Alchemist – Spotlight Delhi Theatre Festival.The two plays that will be staged on Sunday have a variety of shades streaming through them. They reflect on relationships, heartbreak, separation, patriarchy and women’s emancipation. One of the plays, enacted by Kher is a solo act about his journey to becoming an actor.
In Mera Woh Matlab Nahi Tha, written and directed by Rakesh Bedi, Kher and Gupta are high school sweethearts and next-door neighbours who were separated at a young age. Let down by one another and circumstances, they meet 35 years later to discover the truth behind their separation. What they find out is totally astonishing and in contrast with what they had imagined about each other all their lives.
Mera Woh Matlab Nahin Tha is also a story of two individuals at cross roads of life, torn between hanging onto decades of hatred or forgiveness, of moving past assumptions and presumptions. Its about a woman hoping to break free from societal shackles and walk into the sunset with the love of her life. It also questions if society will allow two responsible individuals the freedom to live a life of their choice?
Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai, directed by Feroz Abbas Khan and written by Ashok Patole, is a journey of a man who should’ve been a failure; one who manipulated his destiny and forced it to become a success. “This is Anupam Kher’s story, where he performs his reality. It’s an unprecedented act in the history of theatre as the autobiography of an actor is been dramatised on stage, especially when he is still practising his craft. The play celebrates life and reaches out to all, with honesty and rare candour,” says, one of the organisers, Prabhu Tony, Chief Operating Officer, Alchemist Live.
Talking about the event, he says Delhi Theatre Festival was created to give theatre a platform and make it accessible to a huge audience.“Based on audience feedback and popular demand, we came up with Spotlight – where you get your fix of theatre on a more frequent basis. Beginning with two shows of Anupam Kher this weekend, followed by two of Shabana Azmi in July.”
On: June 30
At: Siri Fort Auditorium