Indradhanush - First Australian collection of Hindi Plays

Nistha Handa writes about Indradhanush, a festival of Hindi plays.

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are merely players”
This widely regarded phrase is the beginning of a monologue from William Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’.

It was also the essence of Indradhanush, a festival of Hindi plays, which took place on Sunday, 11th of September at Shopfront Theatre in Carlton to celebrate Hindi Divas.

This stage production was the combined effort of 41 players and a team of various supporting members. For the last four monthsthe Indradhanush stage had become the world for each member of this dedicated group from Abhinay School of Performing arts.All of the players came from different walks of life ranging from the age of 15 to 70. Each person embraced their role and transformed into unique characters when in the limelight of Shopfront’s stage. Characters ranged from a radio jockeys, to a robot and even a Cate Blanchett.

Aishveryaa Nidhi, festival director said, “the main focus of the festival was celebrating Hindi divas. It’s the second most spoken language in the world and we wanted to provide a platform for community members to stay in touch with their roots but in a fun way where they could express themselves through our mother tongue.”

Indradhanush was inspired by a playwriting workshop the Abhinay participants attended with one of the leading ten minute playwrights and Artistic Co-ordinator of Short+Sweet Theatre Sydney, Alex Broun in July at the Shopfront Theatre. Each of the students wrote a play, which was later translated to Hindi for the festival. The plays alluded to contemporary, social, emotional and political issues. One of the plays, ‘Ek Nayee Subah’ written by Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia has even been selected to be performed at the Short+Sweet festival 2011 in Delhi, India.

The Indradhanush festival, described as ‘A rainbow of Indian Hues in Theatre’, celebrated the various textures of the Hindi language in a format of eleven short 10-minute plays.

The first play, ‘Taaquat’ or ‘The Power’ was a beautifully written dialogue between an arrogant radio host, Rajat (played by Mehul Joshi) and his studio microphone, Dron (played by Ravi Chanana). In this play, written and directed by Sukhpreet Dhamoon, reality ultimately dawns upon Rajat that there are more powerful people than him who are trying to make the world a better place to live.

The second play, ‘Bandhak’ or The Hostage was about a man (Parth Nanavati) who gets kidnapped (by Shourya Nidhi) and gets interrogated. He quickly learns that the past can come back to haunt his future. This play was written and directed by Shourya Nidhi and music was composed by Kiran Pradhan.

The third play, ‘Ek Su Sampann Var’ or ‘A Perfect Match’ was about The year 2030. Women demand: a perfect match for a life partner or none at all. Their parents pine for the day when their darling daughters would find such a life partner. Meet Reena: she is one such person who betters the rest. For she has decided to marry a robot — her perfect match. But hours before the wedding she has the usual pre-nuptial pangs — is he the right match after all? This play was written by Neena Badhwar, directed by Swapan Chakravarthy, with special inputs from Asha Sharma. Aparna Vats played the bride and Neel Banerjee played the robot.

Play number four, ‘Maanas, Dharti aur Prakriti’ or ‘Human, Earth and Nature’ was the Earth’s conversation with the Prime Minister and President of the country, telling them that they would have to stop polluting the Earth with carbon and Green House gases otherwise she would stop providing him with her resources. This play was written by Karuna Darvesh and translated and directed by Sukhpreet Dhamoon. Dharti (The Earth) was played by Ambika Jetley, Prime Minister was played Tek Bareja and President was played by Suresh Makkar.

The fifth play, ‘Ek Naayee Subah’ or ‘A New Dawn’ revolves around a Hindu middle class family and their Sikh neighbour in the year 1984, when the state of Punjab was being torn apart by religious tensions. This play consisted of a lengthy cast including Bauoo ji – (played by Sandeep Sharma), Savitri Devi – (played by Aishveryaa Nidhi), their son, Vinod (played by Rohit Kalia), Daughter-in-law – Rekha (played by Monalisa Grover), Neighbour – Satish Gupta (played by Sukhpreet Dhamoon), Sikh Neighbour (played by Probjot Singh), Neighbour’s wife (played by Nishthha Nidhi), Dr. Satinder Singh (played by Dev Pal Singh), Children (played by Arnav Grover, Michelle Khurana and Jhanvi Grover). The music was of Sarabjeet Singh, singers being Sarabjeet Singh and Nisthha Nidhi.

The play sends a strong message of the oneness of humanity, whilst a leaving a subtle reminder that it is something that requires our ongoing attention and effort. Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia dedicated this play to the victims of 9/11 and spreads a message of peace through this play. ‘Ek Nayee Subah’ has been selected to be performed in Short+Sweet Festival 2011, New Delhi, India.

The sixth play, ‘Vibhajan’ or ‘Delayed Epitaph’ was about the left side of a female patient gradually parting from its right side, hence Vibhajan. This play was written by Crazy Kamli, translated in Hindi by Shubha Kumar and directed by Swapan Chakravarthy. Asha Sharma played the mother and Aparna Vats played the daughter.

Play number seven, ‘Aath Gyarwee ke liye’ or ‘8 for 11th’ was very appropriate looking at September 11th, 10 years on. The play with depicts intrigue and suspense of the 9/11 terrorist events. This play was written by Iqtedar Abdi and directed by Nisar Sirguroh. Nisar Sirguroh played Haider, Fahmida Abdi played a lady reporting the incidents, Iqtedar Abdi played a security officer named Baqar, Vikas Sehgal played a security officer, Chowdhary and Ambika Asthana played a lady lawyer security officer, Amrita Walia. This was another play dedicated to the victims of 9/11 and misunderstood muslims by Iqtedar Abdi.

To check the event pictures, click on the Event Gallery below

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Play number eight, ‘Cate Blanchett Wants to be my Friend on Facebook’ was a comedy where Academy Award winning actress, Cate Blanchett (played by Nishtha Handa), who is learning to speak Hindi sets out to make some Hindi speaking Facebook friends. This play was written by Alex Broun and translated and directed by Aishveryaa Nidhi. Yash was played by Shourya Nidhi, Manoj was played by Sandeep Sharma and Sonia was played by Cheryl Khurana.

The ninth play, ‘Vytha- Kalakaar ki’ or ‘The Artists Dilemma’ was about a scriptwriters need for ambition, which compels him to abandon idealism and instead write for recognition and success. This play was written & directed by Swechha Kulshreshtra. Ajayangshu played the scriptwriter, Shivdev Kler played the mother and Indu Takher played the wife in this play.

The tenth play, ‘Ladli‘ or ‘Darling Daughter’ is the story of a father whose wife died during childbirth leaving behind a bundle of joy, his only daughter! He too will be leaving the world soon. He wishes to find an eternal place in her memory. This play was written and directed by Arvind Shukla. The role of the father was played by Arvind Shukla, the daughter was played by Ambika Asthana, a friend was played by Vikas Sehgal, the wife was played by Swechha Kulshreshtra and the step son was played by Pratick Tanna.

The final play ‘Dhalti Parchayian‘ or ‘Waning Shadows’ revolves around the lives of a husband, a wife and their daughter. It depicts the struggles and frustrations of an immigrant family where circumstances and personal egos force the couple to live separately. Their daughter grows up in total loneliness. Sukhpreet Dhamoon was the writer & director of this play. Aishveryaa Nidhi played Namita, the wife, Raj Kumar Dixit played Raj, the husband and Cheryl Khurana played Nisha, the daughter.

It was a fun filled afternoon/evening with hosts Nitin Madan, Nishthha Nidhi, Monalisa Grover and Sam Almaliki keeping audiences of both full house shows, engaged throughout.

In true India style, flavour and spice was added to the festival by making it a competition, judged by five industry professionals, including judges from the Sydney Theatre Company and with backgrounds in writing, directing and acting. Various actors and actresses were acknowledged for their talents and passionate performances.

Shourya Nidhi and Cheryl Khurana received Best Actor and Best Actress award for Alex Broun’s ‘Cate Blanchett facebook par meri friend banna chahti hai’ . This comedy play was translated in Hindi and directed by Aishveryaa Nidhi.

First runner up actress was Indu Takher for Swechha Kulshreshtra’s ‘Vytha Kalakaar Ki’ and second runner up actress Aparna Vats for Neena Badhwar’s ‘Ek Su-Sampann Var’

First runner up actor was Rohit Kalia for Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia’s ‘Ek Nayee Subah’ and second runner up was a tie between Sandeep Sharma for Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia’s ‘Ek Nayee Subah’ and Mehul Joshi for Sukhpreet Dhamoon’s ‘Taaqat’,while Sukhpreet Dhamoon won the ‘Best Play Award’ for ‘Dhalti Parchayian’. ‘Most Popular Play’ award also went to Sukhpreet Dhamoon for ‘Dhalti Parchayian’.

The festival was not only a true celebration of Hindi divas but also of amazing local writers, directors and actors. The men and women of Indradhanhush were most definitely more than mere players. They were true stars who brought to life all kinds of characters and performed with elegance and enthusiasm not only once at the 3pm session, but did it all over again for the second show at 6:30pm on the same day.