Feisty, fresh and fabulous at 40

Itrsquos easy to gauge Ila Arunrsquos infectious energy and excitement across screens That she says is because her labour of love her theatre company Surnai Theatre And Folk Arts Foundation has turned 40ldquoWe performed for the first time on June 11 40 years ago at Prithvi Theatre in Bombay now Mumbai It poured heavily that evening Our show was called A Musical Sandstorm There were barely seven to eight members in the audience who made it to the venue There was an outage at Prithvi and I approached Jennifer Kapoor for a solution She said itrsquos an evening dedicated to folk artistes who can perform even without electricity so the show continued in candlelight There was no looking backrdquo recalls ArunThe cast of Shabd Leela during rehearsalsWhile reminiscing about Surnairsquos journey she admits itrsquos been a difficult ride When she first arrived in Mumbai Arun joined Nadira Babbarrsquos Ekjute Theatre ldquoMost come here to join Bollywood but for me theatre was my passion Luckily Prithvi was born in the previous year I wanted to express myself write my own scripts and adapt and produce them I met Jennifer Kapoor and being aware of my love for music and folk artistes apart from theatre she encouraged me to bring folk artistes from Rajasthan together to create something at Prithvi Even our plays are dedicated to Jennifer Kapoorrdquo she addsRajeshwari Sachdev and Ila Arun in Jameela Bai KalaaliThe group is named after the soulful Rajasthani folk instrument surnai from the shehnai family Arunrsquos brother Prasoon Pandey sketched a musician playing the instrument that became their logo Over the years many actors and writers have been part of the company and its plays but the core group of Ila Arun KK Raina Anjula Bedi and Vijay Kashyap remained intact This collaboration and Rainarsquos unparalleled skill is what Arun believes has kept the group goingldquoI first met KK ji for Ek Ruka Hua Faisla at Prithvi I was awestruck by his performance and the play I was keen that he joined me for my new venture Our earnings from TV shows and commercial performances came handy KK ji is a voracious reader He suggests if an idea could be adapted I write and act it and he directs it we fight but Surnai benefitsrdquo Arun jokesIshita Arun and Rahul Bagga in a scene from MareechikaldquoMy first memory at Surnai is this beautiful girl carrying a jhola going door to door in search of advertisements for her play Hailing from drama school I knew this would be tough I was doing a film called Vijeta so I told her that I would join her after the shoot was wrapped uprdquo Raina recollects ldquoShe wanted to write a play called Riyaz As a musician she said we have to do our rehearsals If we stop practising we will cease to be musicians and artistes Similarly in a manwoman relationship you need to constantly work at it I was struck by this interesting metaphor I kept encouraging her and she came up with a beautiful play She never stopped after thatrdquo he adds Raina also recounts their challenges to raise funds ldquoSadly much hasnrsquot changed over 40 years despite rents of venues and other expenses having shot uprdquo The duo admits being blessed to work with dedicated actors Arun shares an incident during their play Jameela Bai Kalaali when Rajeshwari Sachdevrsquos saree had caught fire at a Diwali party Despite being in the ICU with a thirddegree burn she performed against the doctorrsquos wishes at her own riskFrom June 10 the group will perform their plays mdash Miracle on Matunga Street based on Tom Dudzickrsquos American play Miracle on South Division Street Yeh Raste Hain Pyar Ke which talks about the plight of senior citizens during the pandemic and Shabd Leela a play that combines selected portions from three works by famous Hindi playwright and poet Dr Dharamvir Bharati in one script Arun is keen to revive some of the grouprsquos early plays and crowdfund her dream project mdash to develop a small theatre space in MaladOn June 10 to 12 different timingsAt Prithvi Theatre Janki Kutir 20 Juhu Church Road JuhuLog on to inbookmyshowcomCost Rs 500