1-888-Dial-India is writer Anuvab Pal's new play, one that dissects modern India to expose evil businessmen, aspirational employees and a yawning generation gap
1-888-Dial-India is writer Anuvab Pal's new play, one that dissects modern India to expose evil businessmen, aspirational employees and a yawning generation gap
Anuvab Pal, the writer-director who is on the verge of achieving celebrity status in Indian English theatre, describes the lead character of his latest play as a cross between Lalit Modi and Mephistopheles ("without the lisp," an actor adds). "In the sense that he has a relentless drive for entrepreneurship. If he can't play cricket here, he'll take it to South Africa. These are the people building the new country," says Anuvab.
To understand his statement better he explains the concept behind 1-888-Dial-India. It's the story of an entrepreneur, Arun Gupta (played by Kunal Roy Kapur) who hires two employees (Ratnabali Bhattacharjee and Siddharth Kumar) to work in a unique business model. The plan is to outsource calls from Americans who are suicidal. "So, he wants to outsource desperate calls by Americans to 911, and turn that into a business. The play tracks the business, its success and failure and what it does to these two people." The comedy that leans towards dark humour, explores the new India people who are building it, people who are making money from it, and Americans who are making calls to the centres to unravel the conflict that's unfolding between individuals belonging to different generations.u00a0
A storyline surrounding BPOs might sound clichu00e9d but Anuvab has managed to bring his own brand of twisted humour and character observations that he's known for, to set the script apart. "The play ends with a piece of music that is a collection of snippets of advertisements rising to a crescendo, when Arun is pitching a new business idea. In many ways, I feel he is trying to build a new materialistic India, and he is constantly trying to improve it under the guise of Westernisation. One could write a heavy-handed play about this development, but I wanted it to be funny. I like to go to the theatre and laugh."
Although Anuvab has movies like The President is Coming and The Loins of Punjab, and the popular play Chaos Theory to his credit, he is worried about audience reaction. "I'm worried about Sunday night because the ending is neither uplifting nor totally tragic. It is an ending where we show you a horrible man at his worst, leading you out telling you to 'enjoy your dinner'. I've never done a play like this."
The cast however, seem far from worried, especially when Kunal's striptease is the highlight. "I've never done something like this, except for two years when I'd taken up striptease professionally. But here, I'm out there in all my glory. This is the fattest I've ever been," Kunal winks. VJ Sophie Choudary claims credit for teaching Kunal the striptease moves, while Ashwin Mushran says Kunal beamed him images over a webcam in the middle of the night asking, "Am I doing it (the striptease) right?"
At: St Andrews College, St Domnic Road, behind Holy Family Hospital, Bandra (W).
Call: 66548135 / 22824567
Tickets: Rs 750, Rs 500,
Rs 350, Rs 200, Rs 150,
Rs 100 Time: 7.30 pm
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