What do you call a happy accident? Having balanced multiple deadlines for more than half a dozen years now, this writer identifies happy accidents as stories that lead you to other stories and, more importantly, to other possibilities. Salma Deewani — a play written and performed by Hyderabad-based actor and theatre-maker Bhagyashree Tarke — was born similarly; a happy accident of sorts. Before joining drama school, Tarke was a journalism student. As a young journalist, she wanted to write about single-screen theatres in her city shutting shop. 

“While researching, I gathered data that these theatres are fully booked [in advance] before the release of every Salman Khan film. After reading through the data, I realised that a majority of viewers [at these cinemas] are women,” Tarke recounts. This entertainment demographic shaped her acting exercise at the National School of Drama. “It was an assignment where each student was required to put together a 15-minute-long solo act. The first draft of Salma Deewani was written then,” the actor says, reminding us that the satire has evolved over time.