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'Children are dying in our country'

Updated on: 01 January,2012 08:07 AM IST  | 
Lhendup G Bhutia |

You might remember Lushin Dubey from Delhi Belly -- she played Sonia's (Shenaz Treasurywala) mother -- but Dubey is also a well-known theatre actress.

'Children are dying in our country'

You might remember Lushin Dubey from Delhi Belly -- she played Sonia's (Shenaz Treasurywala) mother -- but Dubey is also a well-known theatre actress. After having collaborated with director Arving Gaur to be part of solo plays on the plight of women across borders (Untitled) and child sexual abuse (Bitter Chocolate), she is back in Mumbai with another solo production -- this one about child deaths in India.


How did I Will Not Cry come about?
Around eight months ago, I was part of a panel discussion on the high number of child deaths in India. It was organised by Save the Children, and all us speakers pledged to do something about the issue. I, being a theatre professional, pledged to make a play on the subject. Arvind Gaur (director) and I then conceived
this play.


Why were you personally interested in the subject?
Over the years, I have done so much of theatre that I am now looking for challenges. And I always tend to lean towards subjects with social relevance. Child death is such a somber subject. Children are dying every minute from various ailments, and yet no one seems to be aware of it. The dissonance between India and Bharat seems to be at its highest.


How have you'll treated the subject?
It's a satirical solo play, where we have used plenty of multimedia. I don't want to give too much away, but it is told in the format of a TV news show. Here, I enact different characters like the social activist, bureaucrat, socialite, etc, and in the process bring to the fore different perspectives of our society on such an issue.

Are you sure an audience comprising mostly of affluent and upper middle class, would be interested in such a play?
Well, that is the challenge. We have tried to reveal an aspect of our society, and yet make it 'entertaining' enough to sit through. There is so much
apathy in our society. But I think this is changing. Just look at the support Anna Hazare's movement has received (Gaur is a member of India Against Corruption). People need to be made aware of the issue.

At: I Will Not Cry, 7 pm, January 3, Experimental Theatre, NCPA, Nariman Point
Call: 22824567

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