Curtains Up!

Don’t read this if you’re close-minded. For theatre group Manch Tantra,is back to shake any mental cobwebs you may have with its play Salt ‘n’ Pepper. For those who missed it last year,Hardeep Singh Sethi,a founder member and also the general secretary of the group and director of the play,explains,“the play is about live-in relationship between Pranav Kakkar,a fashion photographer and Maya Kapoor,a freelance copywriter and the insecurities Maya faces due to her boyfriend’s fantasy of a ‘perfect woman’. With the help of her over-enthusiastic neighbour who herself is in an ill-matched marriage,she tries every possible trick to impress him. The commotion that follows is a comedy of errors that has everyone in splits,yet brings out the truth of life. Conceived by Sukriti,the idea was pushed aside for some four years before the two script writers,Raveena Beniwal and Sapna Kakkar took it on as a project to create into reality. “The script came out from the heart. We had no problem writing it because the concept is something that everyone can relate to,right from 14 to 70-year-olds. Salt ‘n’ Pepper is about love and its imperfections,” says Sapan. Keeping in mind the modern appeal of the production,the dialogues have been written in Hinglish and the act is played in a trendy studio apartment. As for the characters,“Many of them are inspired by the people I’ve met. There are characters I can easily identify as an aunti-ji from my own life,” laughs Sukriti.

But that’s not all. The music for the play was specially recorded in a professional studio in Delhi,which was composed by the actors and Rochak Kohli,a founder member and national executive producer of Big FM. Yes,the talent is tremendous but surprisingly,none of them have undergone formal training. While most of the actors are from the DAV College Dramatics Society,it is open to all. “We are not professionally trained,nor are from any acting school. It is more like we have our own school of thought that binds us together. In fact,many actors have specially flown in from Mumbai and Delhi to act out their roles,” says Hardeep,as Ashmita Gupta,a member,nods in agreement. “We are experimenting with new styles and ideas that gives our production an interesting appeal,” he says. A must-see,the play will be performed on July 9 and 10 at Tagore Theatre at 7 pm. Passes are available free of cost at Barista in Sector 11 and 35,Headmasters in Sector 8 and the Benetton showroom in Sector 9,Panchkula.