Ready for their close-ups

There are many new faces making waves on the city stage. Suparna Thombare profiles some of these performers

Manaswini Lata Ravindra
24, playwright 
She penned her first play Cigarette, which stirred up a controversy because it portrayed the protagonist, a girl, as a smoker, at the age of 20. Having written two plays for her theatre group Lalit Mumbai, Manaswini is making her presence felt in Marathi theatre. After completing her graduation in theatre from Pune’s Lalit Kala Kendra in 2001, she moved to Mumbai and wrote Cigarette and Alvida, which ran in Mumbai, Pune, Nasik and Goa till last year. She believes that Marathi theatre has always been in the hands of youngsters.

“Though Marathi theatre has gone through a lull in the last five years, it is beginning to pick up,” she says. “Youngsters have always tried to do something different in Marathi theatre and that’s what I’m trying to do as well.” Her biggest challenge has been to find a place for experimental theatre performances in the city.  But things are definitely looking up for this Goregaon resident. Just back from a writing workshop conducted by Royal Court Theatre in London,  she will be writing a play for the Rage festival in January.

Chandan Roy Sanyal
29, actor & playwright 
Chandan’s first production was an adaptation of Vijay Tendulkar’s much-criticised Sakharam Bainder Retold, which won the Thespo award for the Best Play in 2004. Chandan won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Sakharam in the play.

He got involved with theatre at 19, through a Spic Macay workshop conducted by veteran Habib Tanvir in New Delhi. A mathematics graduate from Delhi University, Chandan came to Mumbai to pursue his love for theatre and films. He acted in Quasar Thakore Padamsee’s Minorities and Alyque Padamsee’s P-dialogues and Romeo and Juliet. Chandan has also experimented with set design in his plays. “The backdrop for Sakharam was made out of 40 sacks stuffed with cigarettes and bidis. I wanted a mix of the real and the surreal,” he says. He has been roped in to play a role in Tim Supple's Midsummer Night’s Dream and will be performing in London next month. He has also completed a film called Tarkash with debutant director Pulokesh Bhoumik.   

Chaitanya Tamhane
19, actor & playwright
This second-year English literature student from Mithibai College has been making waves in the inter-collegiate theatre circuit for the past three years. Chaitanya jumped into acting at the age of 16, and has participated in over 15 plays at various inter-college events. One of his first successes was the one-act play Doctor Shodh Mohimecha, at the Avishkar Anek theatre competition last year, where he won the Best Playwright award.

“You cannot make a career out of performing for your college, but you definitely get noticed. It’s a great learning experience and gives you a platform to perform,” he says. Chaitanya has written scripts for, and performed at, several competitions like the Indian National Theatre and IPTA, but is now looking to do more work outside college. “I will soon be working on a one-act play to be performed in January,” he says. “I want to focus on writing plays that are contemporary, socially-conscious and entertaining at the same time.” Chaitanya is also currently reviewing plays at the Prithvi Festival.

Ahlam Khan
27, actor & writer
Ahlam started off as a journalist and then wrote for Prithivi’s Theatre’s newsletter PT Notes before she wrote her first Hindi play Mod, which opened at the Prithvi Festival in 2002. The play dealt with the life of eight girls, which managed to strike a chord with the women in the audience.

A self-proclaimed feminist, Ahlam has been yearning to take up women-centric subjects ever since. Her second play was the bilingual Cast Party, a lighter piece of than Mod. Ahlam has been busy scripting for films as well, and acting. “Writing gives you creative satisfaction. But there is a dearth of sponsors, and directing brings with it a lot of responsibilities,” she says. Her focus is now on acting, and the 27-year-old is preparing for her role as a classical dancer in Dream Catcher, which will open at the Rage festival. “It’s a three-member cast. It’s a story of two sisters who are classical dancers. I haven't learned dancing but my co-actor, who is a dancer, will guide me. It is going to be challenging,” she says.