JOIN USNational School of Drama, Bengaluru is organising ‘Dakshina Bharata Rangotsava’, the drama festival, from April 20 to 29, 2016.
On April 21, ‘Taoos Chaman Ki Myna’ (Hindi) will be staged at Gurunanak Bhavan, Millers Tank Bund Road, Vasanth Nagar. The source of the play is an Urdu story by Naiyer Masud. The adaptation and direction is by Atul Tiwari. The play is presented by Gillo Theatre Repertory, Mumbai. The cast includes Vighnesh Sinkar, Manoj Kumar Karki, Vianca Varma, Afsana Ahmed, Sharvari Deshpande and others.
The play goes like this: Work is on in full swing at the Royal Peacock Garden to install a wondrous cage that will house 40 talking hill mynas. Soon, the cage and its lively, twittering occupants are entrusted to Kale Khan’s care. But he steals a myna for his little motherless daughter, who has long been asking him for one. What lies in store for Kale Khan forms the crux of the play.
About the play, Atul Tiwari says, “Mix the mesmerism of ‘Daastaangoyee’, magic of ‘Idgaah’, memories of Ghadar and monumental Lucknow. What you get is the tale called ‘Taaoos Chaman Ki Myna’ by the inimitable Nayyar Masood. It was a pleasure and pain at the same time to adapt this story into a play. Singing birds in a wondrous cage can easy be brought alive by ink on a page. But on stage? How do you bring 40 birds, worlds biggest cage, marquee markets, monuments, Mahals etc on stage?,” he asks.
“The questions were many and multiple. But at every confusing turn, it was the story that showed me the right path to write, and my actors,” he says.
The lyrics are by Nazeer Akbarabadi and Atul Tiwari. Music is by Amod Bhatt and production design is by M S Sathyu. Pooja Pant has done the choreography.