All musicians are equal. But are some more equal than others? Director-writer Sapan Saran takes a deep dive into the question with Same Same But Different. In this play, Jahnvi Shrimankar, an accomplished singer from SoBo sits across the table with Kailash Waghmare, a self-trained singer from a marginalised community hailing from Jalna in interior Maharashtra, as they share their stories and journeys through music.

“The idea germinated during the COVID-19 lockdown, when we were disconnected,” Saran shares. She believes that we live in times where we are no longer hesitant to raise our voices against things that pose a threat to us as a community. “The question then arises, what do we celebrate and stand for? What binds us together? The answer was music,” she adds. For Saran, the decision to rope in Shrimankar and Waghmare comes from her experiences of having worked with both artistes. “I thought about them interacting through music in my head. And it perfectly exemplified the social, political and economic state of the country,” she recalls.