Written in 1981, late playwright Vijay Tendulkar's play Mitrachi Goshta told the story of a love triangle between three students in a Pune college. Bapu, Mitra, Nama's story is, however, not the regular triangle. When Bapu's wish of getting to know Mitra comes true, he becomes party to her inner struggles with her sexuality, and eventually gets drawn into a game of vacillating sexual politics between she and Nama, the girl she desires. At a time when homosexuality was taboo, Tendulkar's work raised many eyebrows. This weekend, Akash Khurana's Akavarious will perform the English version of the play, titled A Friend's Story. "It is one of his least performed plays, even in Marathi, which is why we chose to do it," says Khurana. "We chose the English version, translated by Gowri Ramnarayan. Our cast is young, and our lead actors are Maharashtrian. We have retained the script. I admire his writings that have a sensitivity and a structured graph." The original Marathi play featured stalwarts like Vinay Apte and Rohini Hattangadi

Vijay Tendulkar