Making a song and dance about it

playwright

In her recent play Bandish 20-20000Hz, Purva Naresh has once again used song and dance to take a sharp, satirical story forward in an imaginative, entertaining manner.

Contrasting the cultures of different periods, Purva presents on stage classical renditions of a baithak singer, the playfully seductive songs of a nautanki artiste and peppy numbers by today’s hip-hop generation. What emerges through the play is a coming together of diverse styles, and an understanding of music down the years.

In an earlier play, Ladies Sangeet, too, writer-director Purva had skillfully juxtaposed the values of several generations through a complex storyline, supported by both classical and modern music.

A trained musician and dancer herself, Purva combines the drama of theatre with the beauty of music and dance in most of the plays she writes and directs. We interview Purva on the influences that have honed her skills as a dramatist, composer and theatre director. Here are some edited excerpts:

 Do you weave stories around music, or is it the other way around?

A bit of both. In an earlier play, Aaj Rang Hai, I had written the story around music. In Bandish…, the music enhances the story. Bandish… is a re-exploration of a text I had worked on previously in the play Afsaneh: Bai Se Bioscope Tak.

 At what age did you get involved in theatre, and in what capacity?

Since childhood, as a dancer. My mother Vijay Naresh worked with the Sangeet Natak Akademi and so theatre was an
integral part of my growing-up years.

 Your mother trained as a director…were you present on her sets as a child?

My mother made documentaries and directed stage productions. I was present on most of them. I remember acting in a lovely documentary she made on Lucknow, and feeling very important…

 Your father, Naresh Saxena, is a poet. Is it his influence that makes you a wordsmith?

Yes, I guess so. My brother, my cousins and I have grown up on stories narrated by him, created around the words we chose. So if I said ‘shoe’, my brother said ‘brinjal’, and a cousin said ‘giant’, my father would tell us a story that incorporated all three things! Every night we listened to a new story. I often borrow lines from his poems as key thoughts for my scenes or the dialogues I write.

 You write plays as well as dialogues and screenplay for films. Does one medium influence the other?

Yes. Definitely. And I like that because it gives both an edge.

 At what age did you get initiated into music and dance?

I started training in dance when I was three, and at five I started learning to play the pakhavaj. I went on to doing a Masters in Music (percussion) from Indira Kala Vishvavidalaya.

You also have a post-graduate diploma in Film and Television Production from the Film and Television Institute of India…

Yes. Before that, I did Economics Honours from Delhi University.

 You did a stint in a corporate job, heading production for a motion picture studio…

Yes.

 And now you run your own theatre company, Aarambh. Which field do you enjoy the most?

Anything with storytelling. I enjoy storytelling the most, whether it be through dance, theatre, film, or even one-on-one at parties.