Theatre festival Sarkash at Prithvi sets the stage for performers like Naseeruddin and Ratna Pathak Shah in an eight-day run of plays, photography and musical acts.

The festival acts as a fund-raiser for Janam that was set-up in 1973 by Safdar Hashmi. Janam digs up its archives and allows us to take a peek into theatre in the Eighties with an exhibition that showcases
vintage photography.

Today you can catch the star cast Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah and Heeba Shah in Ismat Khanum Chughtai, a series of short stories by Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai that have been adapted by Naseeruddin Shah. The three narrators take you through the stories of Mughal Bacche, Chhui Muee and Gharwali, among others.

Yeh Dil Mange More, Guruji
The curtains open with this story about religious extremism, which is witnessed in its raw form with Naseeruddin Shah in collaboration with Janam actors.

Gharwali
Naseeruddin Shah's narration takes us through this story, as he slips in and out of different characters, frequently bringing out the irony of Chughtai's prose.

Mughal Bacche
Ratna Pathak Shah brings out the dark undertones of the love story set against the backdrop of the Mughal kingdom. The story is a comment on the social set-up in Uttar Pradesh and the decline of the Mughals.

Chhui Muee
Heeba Shah enacts the story of a childbirth witnessed by three seemingly similar characters in a local train. But the three reactions to the same incident are completely different.

Shows on Sunday
5.00 pm: Yeh Dil Mange More, Guruji (free entry)
6.00 pm and 9.00 pm: Ismat Apa ke Naam, Rs 500
At: Prithvi Theatre, 20 Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road
Call: 26149546

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