Akarsh Khurana: We found an urban language to define us

It is a busy afternoon while the cast and crew of Micro Theatre sets up their technical check on stage at antiSOCIAL in Lower Parel Akarsh Khurana smiles as he walks in the tiredness of a battleweary veteran of Mumbai traffic is hard to miss ldquoIt feels like this city is at war with itself I have grown up in Mumbai a Bandra boy through and through and yet I find it tough to defend it these daysrdquo he admitsThe conversation flows over cups of coffee jokes and insight into anecdotes and observations on everything from the stage to filmFrom left Akarsh Dilshad Akash Meera and Adhaar Khurana Pic CourtesyAkarsh KhuranaExcerpts from the interviewCongratulations on 25 years Thatrsquos quite an achievementIt was in 2000 when we set up our production Last year we wanted to just celebrate This year it might be a reduced showcaseTake us back to 2000 and your first productionI was at St Xaviersrsquo College Arghya Lahiri was a schoolmate back from Arya Vidya Mandir in Bandra One evening at Prithvi Theatre he suggested I submit a play to ThespoJahaan Singh in red converses with Khurana during the rehearsalAnd which play was thisIt was Brothers I recall one of our lead actors contracted malaria two days before the opening and I had to step in Thankfully we did wellThe perfect start for a 23yearold on the stagehellipYes but at a cost The next season I got more ambitious and set up a production with 28 actors We were literally booed off stage I considered quitting theatre altogetherFrom left Mithila Palkar Dulquer Salman and the late Irrfan Khan in a scene from Karwaan in 2018 Pic CourtesyRSVP MoviesSo why didnrsquot youBack then you had to apply in advance for dates at venues Just then the National Gallery of Modern Art NGMA offered me two dates Quasar Thakore Padamsee Arghya Lahiri myself and a few others quickly put together a quartet of short plays which did spectacularly That was a resurrectionGoing back to setting up Akvarious What was the moment of epiphanyIt felt like a place I wanted to be in The name Akvarious came from my fatherrsquos Akash Khurana writing company mdash a combination of his initials and his star sign Aquarius But it was not till 2010 that we found a contemporary urban language that defined usAkarsh Khurana second from left during a staging of BrothersThat language is not just in theatre I remember it in Karwaan How did you not get mobbed during the shootWe did Do you remember that now famous scene of Dulquer Salman Mithila Palkar and Irrfan Khan on the bridge It is now called the DQ BridgeIt had been built just a week before we arrived Avinash Arun Director of Photography and I picked it because it was an isolated place Unfortunately on the day of the shoot there was a funeral in the village Suddenly hundreds of people were trying to catch sight of Dulquer Salman Everyone else became almost irrelevantTwo hilarious episodes occurred Irrfan couldnrsquot reach his car and just hopped on a passing local bike for a lift The other incident was that Avinash and I were trying to set up a shot and one over enthusiastic gentleman climbed up on my shoulder to take a picture of Dulquer laughs It was memorableTalk to us about the idea of curating theatre at a musical venueThey antiSocial approached us with the idea as they found that a few days in the week were slower at the venue It sounded like a good alternative to experiment with subjects to suit the space After a while of staging plays we also stepped on board to help with the curation The Micro Theatre itself is an interesting idea and is mainly overseen by Jahaan Singh and Rayaan KhatibWe want to build a community of theatre lovers actors and audiences To do so in Lower Parel is an interesting projectWith your dad and Adhaar do you think of the legacy on stageI donrsquot think we consider legacy much Even this communitybuilding exercise is something we simply chose to do as an interesting experimentWhat is the ultimate objectiveThe ultimate dream is to have my own venue But it takes a lot In this next fiveyear plan it is something I would like to achieveWatch these showsAfter the endON Today 830 pmAT antiSOCIAL Lower ParelExternal AffairsON June 7 6 pmAT Rangshila Versova Andheri WestPatna Ka SuperheroON June 9 830 pmAT antiSOCIAL Lower ParelLOG ON TO inbookmyshowcom