Star-crossed love

Marriage, ego, betrayal, love letters, emotional chaos, yearning, anguish, a gunshot and a flashback Saif Hyder Hasan’s Gardish Mein Taare presented by Centre Stage Creations and partnered by t2 is a take on Guru Dutt-Geeta Dutt’s complicated marriage but the director and writer insists that it could also be your story or it could be mine.

The story of Devdutt and Bhavna Bose played by talented actors Arif Zakaria and Sonali Kulkarni showcases the couple’s marital turmoil and is narrated in flashback after Devdutt shoots himself. The narrative, that opens today at 5 pm and 7.30 pm at Epicentre, Gurgaon, flits between the present and the past through Bhavna’s interrogation and Devdutt’s letter-soliloquies.

“The play is a tribute to the creatively volatile era of Hindi cinema of the 1950s. It owes its genesis to the mad, passionate people who forsook everything for the one thing they believed in — cinema. Somewhere, it is also inspired by the turbulent times and relationship shared by two creative geniuses — Guru Dutt and his wife Geeta Dutt,” Saif says and adds, “From a tribute to the 1950s to the sheer musicality of unfulfilled love, in Gardish, there is a film director, his singer wife and the entire baggage of what we have read about Geeta and Guru Dutt. The turmoil and inner conflicts that a husband and wife go through in a marriage, especially when the husband gets too involved and ambitious about his work is the highlight. But we created a new story. This is because I am a firm believer of the fact that what happens in a marriage is always within the confines of the bedroom, and no third person will be able to tell you the complete truth about it.”

The play has been staged several times in the past two years in several metropolitan cities. About its roaring repeat value and demand, Saif says, “At the end of the day, audiences love love stories and when narrated in a dignified manner, even failed relationships turn out to be a gripping, captivating and intriguing watch. That’s what has worked for this play. Audiences connect with the story; connect with the term kasak (a recurring pain or a pang), which is apt to describe unfulfilled love.”

Music plays a huge part in this play. “The lyrics, the music and the way the whole era of the 50s and 60s films brought on the stage will help the audiences reminisce about those days of the Hindi film industry,” he says, adding, “When dialogues get too overwhelming, I resort to music as a way to continue the narration of my story. Parivesh Singh has been my pillar of storytelling through music.”

Ask him to talk about the process of choosing the cast and he laughs, “I always say that choosing a cast is like getting married. See, when you decide to get married, and someone asks you why this person, you can’t really answer objectively, it’s instinctive. In a play, it is instinctive too. In a marriage, you think, this person will be able to share my life. In a play, you think, this person will be able to share my vision.”

Talking about her character, Sonali Kulkarni, who plays Bhavna Bose who is loosely based on Geeta Dutt, reveals, “It wasn’t just about playing her but it was also about understanding her emotional complexities. A simple life lesson rubbed off while playing her: if you are extremely creative and famous, then it is always better to take care of your own personal feelings. You should drive them (feelings) and not let them drive you.”

Arif, talking about playing the megastar, shares, “It feels nice and responsible at the same time. He had an enigmatic personality but at the same time he was this huge star. He was acclaimed at his work of directing films, but succumbed to the moment in different stages of his life. Playing it, along with making it interactive with the audience, using a lot of Urdu and speaking in the 1950s style, was challenging.”