Kahaani connection

Rakesh Chaturvedi Om

Before the lockdown, a theatre group Kahaani Sunoge? would get on stage frequently with a collection of short stories. These rehearsed readings had gained popularity and helped build the foundation for the new troupe. However, once theatres shut their doors, Rakesh Chaturvedi Om, its founder, began looking for other avenues. The virtual medium was their only bet but Chaturvedi Om was certain stage techniques needed to be adapted.

"Attention spans on the Internet are different, and to perform full-length stories here is not possible. So, we decided to do condensed versions of stories that we select," he says. It was back in April that they started with readings from Saadat Hasan Manto's Siyah Hashiye that features short pieces of satire. "It means black borders and refers to news of grief published in newspapers at the time of Partition," he explains.

Akash Dhar and Chaturvedi Om read folktales

In June, they were ready with a series of folktales. Restricted to three or four minutes in duration, the three episodes saw actors read stories sourced from around the world. "For now, all of them are solo pieces but we are looking at the possibility of using multiple voices for a story by switching screens as they read from their homes." he says.

Coming up this month is a collection of short stories by author Munshi Premchand. "We are also exploring stories by Manto, Ismat Chugtai, Harishankar Parsai and other Hindi and Urdu authors. Following this, we are looking at adding short films to our repertoire," Chaturvedi Om reveals. The episodes are uploaded on YouTube every Sunday, a schedule they plan to retain.

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