From Rockstar and Article 15 to Thappad and Mulk, Kumud Mishra has become one of those actors audiences instantly recognise on screen. But long before Hindi cinema brought him to a wider audience, theatre was where his journey began.
This September, Dubai audiences will get to see him return to that world as Mumbai-based theatre company D for Drama brings two of its Hindi productions to the city.
Puraane Chawal, starring Mishra alongside Mirzapur actor Shubhrajyoti Barat, and the one-man show Patna Ka Superhero, performed by Ghanshyam Lalsa, will be staged at The Junction, Alserkal Avenue, on September 26 and 27.
There will be four performances across the weekend, with two shows of each production.
From the screen to a 177-seat theatre
For audiences more familiar with Mishra through films such as Airlift, Sultan, Rustom and Article 15, the Dubai shows offer the chance to see the actor in a very different setting.
The 177-seat The Junction brings performers and audiences considerably closer than a cinema screen does, something particularly suited to Puraane Chawal, a play built around the chemistry and friction between two ageing performers.
Mishra stars opposite Shubhrajyoti Barat, whom streaming audiences may recognise as Rati Shankar Shukla from Mirzapur. Barat has also appeared in films including Article 15, Karwaan, Saina and Jolly LLB 3, while maintaining a long career in theatre.
The two are not new collaborators either. Both have been part of D for Drama productions over the years, including Dhumrapaan, while Barat has also directed Mishra in Saanp Seedhi.
What is Puraane Chawal about?
What happens when two people who spent decades making audiences laugh together can no longer stand being in the same room? That is the premise at the heart of Puraane Chawal.
For more than four decades, its two central characters were a successful comedy duo. But a bitter falling-out ended the partnership and, with it, their friendship. Years later, they are persuaded to reunite and perform their most famous act one more time at a major comedy festival.
Directed by actor and filmmaker Sumeet Vyas, Puraane Chawal is a Hindi adaptation of Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys, reimagined in contemporary Mumbai by Farrukh Seyer and Avinash Gautam.
Who are D for Drama?
The Dubai weekend also introduces audiences to the wider work of D for Drama, a Mumbai-based theatre company formed in 2013 by Mishra, Ghanshyam Lalsa and Saurabh Nayyar.
Rather than functioning as a conventional theatre group centred around one writer or director, D for Drama was created around a more collaborative approach, bringing actors together with different writers and directors to create new productions.
Over the years, the company has been behind productions including Dhumrapaan, Kaumudi, Open Cast and Saanp Seedhi, working with theatre-makers including Akarsh Khurana, Abhishek Majumdar and Sumeet Vyas. Its productions have also appeared at major Indian cultural venues and festivals, including Mumbai’s National Centre for the Performing Arts and the National School of Drama’s Bharat Rang Mahotsav.
Journey through Patna
Patna Ka Superhero takes audiences to Patna in the early 2000s through the eyes of Manoj, a schoolboy fascinated by a neighbourhood figure called Pintu Bhaiya.
Written and directed by Nihal Parashar, the production is performed entirely by Ghanshyam Lalsa, who recreates the world of Patna on stage. The play itself grew out of Parashar’s memories of the city and his childhood.
For The Junction’s co-founder and artistic director Gautam Goenka, it is precisely the difference between the two productions that makes the weekend interesting. “What excites us is the contrast between these two productions,” he said. “One brings together two outstanding veteran actors, while the other demonstrates how a single performer can create an entire world on stage. Together, they represent the range and richness of contemporary Indian theatre.”
Tickets start from Dh120 and are available on Platinumlist. Audiences can watch either production individually or catch both over the course of the weekend (Sep 26-27). Both plays will be performed in Hindi.
Source: Khaleej Times