9 Parts of Desire

9 Parts of Desire

I am a big fan of comedy plays but today I moved out of my comfort zone to watch a play about 9 Iraqi women who have gone through a lot in their lives between the two gulf wars. The play was an effort by a group called SANJHA SAPNA which has been working on various social, cultural and educational themes and the effort is to tell these stories in order to bring a positive change.

The story tonight was about 9 Iraqi women and they had chosen 9 different actors to perform these roles.

Mullaya- Played by Shibani Bedi was the first protagonist, with a very strong and booming voice, she enthralled all but I felt her role was a bit small and would love to see a full blown performance in some other play.

Layal- Played by Kriti Vij (Jaw dropping pretty)-This was the only part when I was not able to focus on the story as Kriti was a visual delight on the stage. Hope the casting agents are on the lookout.

Amal- Played by Dimple Kaur- The star of the show, got the maximum applause from the audience and was absolutely smooth like a fine piece of satin. Five stars indeed.

Huda- Played by Kavita Seth – Very confident performance by the lady.

Iraqi Girl- Played by Shirin Sewani- Youth emerged on the stage as balls were thrown around and a front row uncle was splashed with water.

The doctor- Played by Nupur Khosla- Second best voice modulation after Shibani Bedi, the coughing was fantastic.

The American- Played by Aarti Nayar – Very confident, the narrator, the way she shouted the names of her children/relatives was very moving indeed.

Uma Gadha- Played by Sonamm Sharma – She had the accent, had the lines and the acting all in the back of her palm, got very strong applause.

Nanna- Played by Vanya Joshi- You could instantly make out that Vanya Joshi was a professional artist and there was no comparison with the younger members of the team, she just took it to a different level.

A special mention for the director Kanchan Ujjal Singh who gave us such a remarkable story of suffering and as the team pointed out on stage that these stories NEED TO BE TOLD.

This post is for the 66% of the audience of my blog who live in India and a majority out of those 66% who live in Delhi, we need to support these initiatives by taking out our time, money and effort (driving in the rains).

Well done team SAANJHA SAPNAA, take a bow.