The world through the eyes of a storyteller

Active in the theatre industry since 1999, Kamal Pruthi prefers to call himself a storyteller.

Luring young kids into the fantasy world of folktales is what he does best and his
recent storytelling session ‘Arey O Kabuliwale’ was no different.

“I don’t have my kids of my own as I am not married, but I have kids in my family on whom I do my research work,” says Pruthi with a smile.

The artistic director of a young theatre company ‘Museum Theatre’ since 2012, Pruthi has named his company after the storytelling form created by him.

“As in museum you take a round to understand the history, I perform my acts the similar way by not allowing  my audience to sit down. Instead, they have to move along with me to totally delve into the story,” he says.

Thirty-two-year-old Pruthi has rendered professional performances in six languages – Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, English, German and Kannada.

“I have a personal interest in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. I experimented with English theatre too,” he says. But Pruthi’s forte lies in German language. He is a German translator and loves to adapt German plays into Hindi/English accordingly.
 
It interestingly defines his storytelling sessions for kids.“I personally enjoy storytelling theatre. Financial viability is one reason, but in storytelling you are not depe­n­dent on 10 other characters,” says Pruthi.

He, therefore, loves to give solo acts. “There are so many theatre groups in the city which perform on the stories of Sadat Hasan Manto now and then. But, I try to enact the story alone or along with my co-actor Amjad. It is not a common practice in Delhi theatre circuit. But in Bangalore, artistes recognise me,” he adds.

Staying for five years in Bangalore, Pruthi got acquainted with Kannada and performed solo acts there also. “I used to perform short stories of Manto, ensuring not to play with the words and not diluting it,” he says.

A recipient of ATSA (Art Think South Asia-2014) fellowship in the field of Arts management and Goethe’s Scholarship for young theatre practitioners of the world-2006, Pruthi has been
instrumental in founding and moderating literary forum, Gar­­ma Garam Chai “for the promotion of new translators, authors and playwrights.”