Thespo 11 Film Club

Thespo 11 Film Club pays tribute to Thespo 11 Lifetime Achievement Award winner Vijaya Mehta for her contribution to the Hindi, Marathi and English theatre scene by screening some of her most popular plays that have been either been documented, converted to films or telefilms.

The Film Club is to be held at the Prithvi House and The Little Theatre, NCPA  on the festival days, from 7^th – 13^th December.

  

 

8th December,
5:30 pm, Prithvi House

Hayavadana
Language: Marathi
Directed by: Vijaya Mehta
Marathi script by: CT Khanolkar and DG Ghodse
Based on the play by: Girish Karnad
Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes

Following the traditional Marathi folk musical style of a story in a story, Hayavadana explores the universal theme of identity through two interwoven stories – of two friends Kapila and Devdutta and of Hayavadana, a horse headed man. Based on the Marathi play by the same name, Hayavadana is an excellent amalgamation of folk theatre motifs – mask, dolls, entry-curtain presented with a contemporary, striking edge.

 

9th December,
6pm, Prithvi House

Letters To My Daughter
Language: English
Directed by: Vijaya Mehta
Duration: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

A documentation of the play based on Jawaharlal Nehru’s letters to his daughter

 
10th December,
6:00 pm, Prithvi House

Wada Chirebandi
Language: Hindi
Directed by: Vijaya Mehta
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

Wada Chirebandi centres around the drama that ensues between the members of the Deshpande family after the death of its patriarch. The title, which is originally taken from a nursery rhyme and means ‘an indestructible house’ stands in paradox to the plot which deals with the devastation of the wada and the family to which it belongs.

11th December,
6:00 pm, Prithvi House

Shakuntal
Language: Hindi
Directed by: Vijaya Mehta
Duration: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

Based on the folktale written by sage Kalidasa in the 5^th century, Shakuntal is a telefilms based on the play that tells the story of King Dushyant and the beautiful Shakuntala. The television version is created using a three-camera setup to recreate the feeling of a live performance, transporting the audience, as it were, into a theatre

12th December,
4:00 pm, Little Theatre, NCPA

Hamidabai Ki Kothi
Language: Hindi
Directed by: Vijaya Mehta
Written by: Anil Barve
Duration: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

Hamidabai Ki Kothi deals with the disintegrating ‘kothi’ culture of the 1940s and in a broader sense, the concept of change. It follows the lives of Hamidabai, an aging Tawaif and her daughter Shabbo who struggle to protect their Kothi and its culture of music from selling out like the other Kothis. This film is a poignant look at the fate of a dying tradition.

13th December,
3:30 pm, Little Theatre, NCPA

Raosaheb
Language: Hindi
Directed by: Vijaya Mehta
Written by: Jayavant Dalvi
Duration: 2 Hours 10 Minutes approximately

Raosaheb is set in the early 20^th century in a small township in Maharashtra. It is a period when emancipation of women was a much discussed subject that remained in reality only an intellectual exercise.  It is the tale of three solitary individuals- a widowed aunt and her two middle aged nephews- living in a sprawling, now dilapidated wada. Their lives and the loneliness of the wada momentarily get intertwined with freshness when a newly wedded young couple move in as tenants.