The human mind has always fascinated thinkers, poets and writers. What is the mind? Is it the brain? Is it what the brain thinks? Is it the heart? Is it what the heart feels? These questions have long boggled many.

This June, two regional-language plays premiering at the NCPA will explore the human mind from different thought-provoking perspectives. Abhijeet Zunjarrao’s Marathi play Mann traverses the landscape of the mind of a protagonist who thinks he has failed at life while Manoj Shah’s multilingual play Third Bell in Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi and English explores what goes on in the minds of audience members as they sit waiting for the third bell before a play begins.

Stream of consciousness 

Speaking about the play and the absence of a linear plot, Zunjarrao discusses the writing style of the veteran playwright C. P. Deshpande who wrote Mann and adds that there is a storyline, “but the exclusion of a linear plot was in keeping with the core idea that the human mind has no linearity. In fact, what is the mind? It is so difficult to define it, isn’t it? We can only define the mind as a collective of myriad, random thoughts that keep shooting out at warp speed in no particular pattern or direction. Similarly, our day-to-day life too runs in a non-linear way. Every moment, even as we might be engaged in doing something, we are playing various roles in our minds. Known for his oblique, satirical writing style, Deshpande wrote Mann as a non-linear collective of thoughts that cross the mind of one man. We found that idea so riveting that we have stayed wholly committed to it in our theatrical representation premiering at the NCPA.”

Manoj Shah’s Third Bell, on the other hand, seeks to express the thoughts of a group of unrelated, unconnected people coming together for a common purpose for a few hours. The audience becomes the protagonist of this multilingual play that tries to reflect what goes on in the minds of viewers as they sit in the darkened auditorium, waiting for a play to begin. “In my journey of more than 40 years, my audience has been my hero. They have celebrated our plays, given us honest feedback and have always encouraged us to do better. They have been like a mother’s lap for me and my artistes, on which we have played, been fussed over and grown.” A few years ago, Shah’s theatre company Ideas Unlimited adapted Austrian playwright Peter Handke’s ‘anti-play’ Offending the Audience, in which the protagonist shouts at the audience, asking them why they expect certain things from the actor. “We were surprised to see how much the audience enjoyed this format. Hence, after a series of solos when we chose to delve into a multi-actor play, we decided to make the audience the protagonist while also celebrating the engagement they have with us through their time and efforts,” explains Shah.

Introspection and deliberation 

Written by Ishaan Doshi, Third Bell endeavours to hold a mirror of sorts to the audience. “The story of our play comprises several narratives woven together to make one big collage.” While one focusses on a couple in the audience, the other explores the interactions between a family. “That is also why our play is multilingual. We cannot have all actors speaking the same language,” says Shah. What the cast, and he as a director, found quite challenging was the limited usage of space onstage. “Each ‘audience member’ in the play is shown to be in a certain seat. So, for instance, we have the couple sitting on seat numbers C-15 and C-16. Their entire story unfurls with the actors sitting in that position, because that is what audience members do once they enter the auditorium. They make themselves comfortable in their assigned seats and then their thoughts and conversations begin. The only probable movement might be going to the restroom or taking a phone call. Hence, each of our actors has utilised minimal space onstage.”

In a departure from the palpable commotion before the curtain rises, Zunjarrao’s Mann is an exercise in introspection, orchestrated through a peek into the mind of the protagonist, Neelkanth. Set in a time just before the rise of globalisation, the monologue explores the ruminations, questions and frustrations of a simple man who lagged in the race as times changed too quickly for him. A man with no professional or personal achievements to tom-tom about, Neelkanth has a deep inferiority complex that prevents him from speaking up when he needs to. He keeps thinking about what he could and should have done and finds solutions to his problems in his mind but cannot implement them at the right time.

“Today, when there is fierce competition juxtaposed with so many distractions and expectations that one might as well grow an extra pair of hands and another head to keep up, the speed and complexity of thoughts has shot up too. Against that backdrop, our play seeks to delve into the mind of every common man, in a contemplative yet entertaining manner,” elucidates Zunjarrao, who makes special mention of Ramesh Wani, the actor playing Neelkanth. “To keep viewers engaged through a solo act is not an easy task. But Wani has done a spectacular job of getting into the skin of Neelkanth, especially in a non-linear plot where he has no point of reference if he fumbles.”

New directions 

Both Shah and Zunjarrao unequivocally aver that regional theatre is seeing a wonderful upward curve and viewers are now keen to experience new ideas, new formats and new treatments. “OTT platforms have opened up a world of global formats and stories to people, who are now eager to see the same replicated in our indigenous media, be it theatre or cinema,” says Zunjarrao. Shah echoes the sentiment. “Actors like Pratik Gandhi, Bhamini Oza, Dharmendra Gohil and Chirag Vora, who have been a part of our theatre group, have found immense popular acclaim on OTT platforms. Now people are even more keen to see them onstage, assured that they will get to see something interesting,” says Shah.

As they gear up to premiere their latest offerings at the NCPA, both the directors express happiness at being able to open their plays in front of an audience exposed to world theatre. Shah lauds the audience at the NCPA for always having received his plays with a critical eye, which has only helped him grow at every juncture. As for Zunjarrao who finds viewers becoming increasingly accepting of unique concepts, he is sure that the audience at the NCPA will appreciate the intertwining of entertainment and fodder for thought that his play endeavours to bring forth.