Staging a rare family drama

 

Humbled by the respect, the veteran actor decides to distribute most of his property between his children Siddharth and Nalini, and live a simple life with his  wife Kaveri, whom he fondly calls “Sarkar”.

 

The original play written in Marathi by V.V. Shivradkar extends up to three hours, but while staging it in the city, theatre groups Rangadhara and Sutradhar adapted it into a contemporary environment and the references from Marathi culture have been changed to suit a wider audience.

 

“I settled on this play because these days we hardly have family dramas performed on stage. And, also, to portray the dichotomy of the many King Lears living today; who are isolated by their own children,” says Bhaskar Shewalkar, director of the play.

 

The play anchored heavily on the shoulders of Vinay Varma, who admits that his first instinct was not to take up the character of the protagonist, Samrat Singh Rathore. Vinay says, “But I stayed on, with the realisation that no amount of experience will help you perform a role easily. The experience will only discipline you and channelise your interests further.”

 

Aditi Sharma, who played the role of Nalini. and Naren Yadav who played Kanhaiya, the eccentric help, who would keep himself occupied, by rehearsing lines from Hamlet, stood out in the cast.