Bangalore has long been a favourite hub for theatre, thanks to its share of talented actors and performances.

But Sushma Veer thought the trend is slowly fading away and decided to revive it. That saw the beginning of a theatre company Katha Kar. Coming from a family of actors – her maternal grandmother G V Malathamma and her mother B Jaishree are both actors – Sushma acted in forty-odd movies in Hindi, Tamil and Kannada as a child.
When she came across Mahesh Dattani’s play ‘Seven Steps Around The Fire’, 15 years ago, she was captured by the depth of the subject and wanted to bring it to the stage.

Sushma met Rubi Chakravarti during the shooting of ‘Kash’, in which Rubi had a minor role.

“I saw her devotion and proficiency in acting and knew instantly that she is going to be Champa – the matriarch of the Hijra community – in the play,” Sushma says. ‘Seven Steps Around The Fire’ is about the Hijra community – their bonding, love, jealousy and the physical and mental trauma they go through in the society.

Uma Rao (played by Sushma) is the wife of a police commissioner who sets out to do a thesis on the Hijra community.

Her interaction with the imprisoned Bijli and a meeting with Champa, changes her attitude towards the community and she strives hard to restore dignity in them. Sushma says, though Rubi was ready to give the role a try, other actors were a bit wary about the subject. According to Sushma, she had to ‘twist their arm’ to get them to perform. But a few days later, the cast settled into their roles comfortably.

She says that interacting with the hijras  gave them personal insights into their lives and helped them learn their life and body language.

“The audience has accepted me as a hijra,” says Rubi. The stage setting was done with precision. Due to the limited space on the stage, the props were moved around to suit different scenes like office and prison cell.

Sushma says loud props are necessary only if you are not confident that your cast can hold the audience.

Since the play was written initially for BBC, some names and a few scenes had to be modified. Mahesh was open to improvisations and he was delighted to know that the play has come to life and well received.

Katha Kar, plans to have a show in Bangalore before taking it to Mumbai and other metros. For details, call Katha Kar at 41475113.   
Perin Ilavia