All in the family

Close on the heels of their much acclaimed All About Women, which interestingly due to popular demand was later also made into a Hindi rendition, Akvarious is all set with their latest play All About My Mother. The script has been adapted from the award-winning movie of the same name by legendary Spanish director Pedro Almodovar and interestingly, has been directed by veteran theatre person and Bollywood script writer, Akash Khurana who is making his directorial comeback after five years.

Producer Akarsh Khurana, who also runs Akvarious with his father Akash, speaks about his dad’s absence from the director’s chair for the last five years. Though it sounds almost clichéd when he says, “Dad did not find a good enough script to direct,” he explains, “it was never a conscious decision. It also coincided with him leaving the country for some time.”

Almodovar’s film went on to win an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Goya Awards. Given the popularity of the film, will there be too much pressure to perform? Akarsh denies, “At the end of the day there should be no comparison. After all, the stage is a very different medium. Our effort is a tribute to the original film.”

The play deals with complex issues — AIDS, transvestitism, plastic surgery and prostitution. The original film has several sexual references, dialogues and drug content. How comfortable is the Indian theatre audience with such issues? The producer says, “I don’t think there will be any humiliating moments on the stage. The Mumbai theatre audience is mature and have accepted plays on homosexuality and strong emotional content.”

The script for the play, however, has been tweaked a little to make it more stage-friendly. Akarsh points out, “The setting is entirely different. We have played around with the format of the original script. It is a stylised representation that the audience will get to see.”