Take a dive into three prominent actors’ lives through a monologue about their life beyond the characters they portray
(From left) Shikha Talsania, Adhaar Khurana and Rohini Ramnathan
It is common knowledge that social media is but a gallery of meticulously picked happy memories, emphasised by filters and catchy AI-generated captions. At times when access to a celebrity’s life seems like it’s a click away; we fall for publicity stunts like the perfect sun-kissed posts, fairytale-like marriages and love stories, no make-up looks, and flawless airport captures. Shattering this world of rose-tinted glasses, three actors — Shikha Talsania, Adhaar Khurana and Rohini Ramnathan — offer a peek into their lives in Life Itself, a storytelling session by Akvarious Productions.
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It will be part of an ongoing series of plays that includes The F Word, Dekh Behen 2, Go With The Flow and This Time. Director and writer Akarsh Khurana shares, “Whenever our production house hosts a chain of plays at a venue, we like to have other fringe performances that people can enjoy in between the plays.” Life Itself is one such performance that promises to draw crowds. “There are many who drop by just for this monologue session by the trio,” he adds.
Akarsh Khurana
“During the pandemic, we had a similar show called Covid Without You. I reached out to Shweta and Rohini, who I knew had a flair for writing, for a few more ideas. Both of them came up with suggestions that were autobiographical. Adhaar, too, was working on a monologue that was inspired from his life for a spoken word event abroad,” Akarsh says, adding that this is how he came up with Life Itself, which has been a hit ever since. “Initially, the plan was to give the audiences three new faces every time we hosted Life Itself. But the response we have garnered made us stick with the trio,” he laughs but promises that they will soon start bringing more theatre actors to share stories from their personal life. “The aim is to make Life Itself a franchise, where people drop by to hear the artistes, who are generally associated with the characters they play, share moving or awe-inspiring bits from their own lives,” he says.
Talsania, Khurana and Adhaar will each perform a monologue that will give the audience an insight into their lives, and instances that contributed to who they are today. “I have grown up in a family of Bollywood actors and theatre artistes. So, naturally, as a young dreamer, my first instinct was to break away from this family tradition. I went to Scotland to move away from all of this and studied forensic science. Yet, despite it all, here I am, back in the industry!” he laughs. Reflecting on how his life made a full circle, Adhaar further reveals that his monologue will be about his family business, young rebellion and some Bollywood trolling. Talsania, over a quick call with this writer, shares that her act will be a story of how she managed to find her place in the industry as a single woman.
Ramnathan, however, will take a departure from the industry to talk about love. “It is about this person whom I met and fell irrevocably in love with. However, I lost him a few years ago. Mine will be a monologue on our sweet love story; and how I moved on from my grief,” she reveals.
On: Today; 8 pm onwards
At: Prithvi House, Juhu.
Log on to: in.bookmyshow.com
Call: 9819060144
Cost: Rs 150
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