Of women, relations and stories

Actors from Bayan

In Turkish, ‘bayan' means women; in the Indian subcontinent, it means a statement or an expression. When Akarsh Khurana, of Akvarious Productions travelled to Turkey, this interesting play on the word stayed with him.

Some time later, in December last year, when the group that has been performing in the city for over 15 years now conceived a play with three stories and six women actors, the word found its place as the title of the play. "The name just came naturally as the word had stayed on," says Khurana. He, however, points out that though he has been officially called so, he is technically not the directer of the play.

"There was no direction in the play as such, but one can call it supervision. The actors Prerna Chawla, Dilshad Edibam, Tahira Nath, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Rohini Ramnathan and Shikha Talsania perfected the performances and then it gelled when we finalised the entire show," he says. Though the play was staged for the first time last year, the group has not yet been staging it as much. "This year we have revived it and are going to travel with it," he says. Later this month, Akvarious Productions is travelling to Bangalore with the play.

The three stories, he says, are contemporary and insightful. In the story Anything For You, two women find a new dimension to their friendship. I Can Tell Your Handbag is Fake is about superficial behaviour and fashion consciousness, and the story Santa's Little Call Girls is about four women trapped in the mundane life of a call centre.