Songs of a lost era

Grand set designs, interesting dialogues, subtle social messages and engaging music and songs — these have become Purva Naresh’s style. This weekend the young theatre director, who is known for having written dialogues for films like Hasee Toh Phasee and Dum Maaro Dum, is bringing a musical tale of an era gone by. The play Bandish 20-20000 Hz will be the opening play for the 2017 edition of Aadyam (Aditya Birla Group’s theatre initiative).

Talking about the stories of two singers, one a nautanki and the other a baithak (classical), the play explores the various nuances of relationships. As the protagonists share several anecdotes, they give a glimpse of how some art forms that were much loved once gradually lost their popularity. Each anecdote is accompanied by a dance number.

Talking to us, Purva Naresh, says, “It is a play about four artistes, two veterans of their art forms and two youngsters who are listening to their stories. Gripped by nostalgia, the aged artistes talk about a lot of personal stories that have political, social and cultural connotations. The play progresses as one story leads to another.”

Since the play deals with Nautanki and Baithak, one wonders if it was easy for her to pen the story as she herself is a musician. “I had to do research. But I have taken a lot of references from people I have personally known,” she says.

Is there some strong social message embedded in the play? “There are a lot of things one can perceive as a message from the play and so, I find it very interesting to note what my audience members think was the takeaway from the play,” she replies.

Lastly, how much does she love bringing her plays to Delhi? Purva says, “I have done my graduation in economics from this city and then I learnt dance and music here. It is just like my home. Delhi has an evolved theatre audience and it is always a beautiful experience performing here.”  

The play stars Danish Husain, Anubha Fatehpuria, Nivedita Bhargava, Ipshita Chakraborty Singh, Hitesh Malukani, Rajiv Kumar, Harsh Khurana and Pranita Pandurangi. The musical composition is by singer Shubha Mudgal.

The play will be staged on Saturday at 7.30 pm and on Sunday at 4 pm and 7.30 pm at Kamani  Auditorium