In the middle of our interview with theatre director Nadir Khan, "garibon ka Tom Cruise" walks in. Actor Neil Bhoopalam, who is set to play Cruise's character on Khan's production of A Few Good Men, knows that "a fair amount of jokes" is on its way. Khan is ready with his: "When Neil is shaved, he looks as close as we (Indians) can to Tom Cruise."

Aadyam's fifth season debuts with A Few Good Men, written originally by playwright and star screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, as a rat-a-tat courtroom exchange between two formidables. In 1992, it was adapted to screen; Cruise played the green US Navy lawyer and Jack Nicholson played the scenery-chewing colonel in the Marine Corps. Khan, who is directing his second legal play after 12 Angry Jurors in 2016, is game for comparisons. "Bring them on. Comparisons are inevitable, especially when you're dealing with scripts that have been made into iconic films. The point is, just because you know a story doesn't necessarily mean that it can only be told one way. For example, the story of Red Riding Hood: it doesn't mean that [since] kids have heard it once, they never want to hear it again. Watching a story you know in a different medium with a different director [can be just as exciting]."