Seven shades of desire

A Woman bootlegger in Ahmedabad whose only desire is to help her daughter grow up to be the deputy superintendent of police. A woman who whips up delicious food, but longs for appreciation. An interior designer who is a die-hard Govinda fan, but harbours an unfulfilled desire to admit it for the fear of being judged. These and other intriguing subjects under the overarching theme of desire are part of seven monologues stitched together as Womanologues. To be staged tonight as part of a premiere run of shows, the Manhar Gadhia production is a Hindi adaptation of the third season of Saat Teri Ekvis, a series of monologues in Gujarati.

"When we curated the third season of these monologues last year and staged them in Kolkata, the organisers requested us to return with a Hindi production of the same. The themes are so universal that audiences from diverse linguistic backgrounds can relate to them," says theatre artiste Pratik Gandhi, who acted in the first two seasons of Saat Teri Ekvis (the series premiered in 2008), and is making his directorial debut with the play, something that he calls an organic progression.

Explaining the concept of the series, Gandhi tells us that each monologue is shaped by a trio of a writer, actor and director, taking the total number of artistes involved to 21. In Womanologues, however, he has directed all seven pieces.

The cast features popular names from Gujarati theatre including Ami Trivedi, Binda Rawal, Bhamini Oza Gandhi, Chitraleka Rathod, Namrata Pathak, Tusharika Rajguru and Veronica Gautam, while the writers who have contributed to the production are Abhinay Banker, Ketan Mistry, Raam Mori, Rahul Patel, Sanjay Chhel and Sanjay Trivedi.

"With desire as the overarching theme, we let writers explore it in their own way. So in 21st Tiffin, National Award-winning writer Ram Mori explores a woman's desire to be appreciated in a short story, which was then adapted for the stage," Gandhi explains.

At: Prithvi Theatre, Juhu.
On: Tonight, 9 pm
Log on to: bookmyshow.com
Entry: Rs 500

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