4 min readPuneJul 2, 2026 10:42 PM IST
First published on: Jul 2, 2026 at 10:42 PM IST
In a fictional kingdom of Banasvan in the 16th century, King Amar has taken a young woman as spouse, casting aside his first wife, Durga. Confined to a forgotten wing of the grand palace, Durga festers with deep feelings of betrayal, bitterness and revenge. Beyond the ramparts, however, the Mughal star is in its ascendancy. Emperor Akbar’s diktat to the lesser kingdoms is simple and direct– submission or war. How does Durga’s wrath as a woman spill into the turbulent political waters and influence the fate of the kingdom of which she is queen?
A theatrical production, The Queen, will have its first Pune show at SLR Black Box, Tilak Road, on July 4. Significantly, The Queen will introduce the city’s theater goers to the first professional play written by Aditya Rawal, an award-winning theatre and film artist from Mumbai. Directed by Daniel Owen D’Souza, the play has been brought to Pune by Spotlight Forum, in collaboration with 72 degrees East Productions.
“Real historical events were an inspiration for me, but not the sole inspiration. The Queen was also inspired by relationships I had seen at close quarters as well as great works, such as Macbeth and Medea. With Medea (the protagonist of Greek tragedy who murders her two children to avenge her husband Jason’s betrayal), I didn’t understand how a woman could do what she did. When I started writing The Queen, I found that my Queen does something equally desperate,” says Rawal.
“The Queen was also inspired by relationships I had seen at close quarters as well as great works, such as Macbeth and Medea.” – Aditya Rawal
Born into a family of performers – his parents are Swaroop Sampat and Paresh Rawal and his brother, Aniruddh Rawal, is an actor as well – Rawal was always interested in theatre, even as a child. He performed in school plays and college theatre. “Even while I was playing football professionally, I was interested in theatre. And, when I arrived at a fork in the road, where I had to decide my direction, I decided to delve into film and theatre,” he says.
New York University offered him a scholarship, “a chance that I could not turn down”. Rawal’s post-graduation was in dramatic writing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. “It was one of the most formative experiences of my life, not just my professional life but in shaping me as a person as well,” he says. Much of the powerful storytelling in The Queen owes to two years with some of the world’s best professors and talented colleagues at NYU, reading, critiquing work and “writing every day to the point where it set such a habit within me that even today, if I am not shooting, I am definitely writing”.
Since Rawal spent a lot of time writing The Queen, he began to understand the characters so well that his pen began to flow. The characters began to do the talking and take actions that he could not have predicted. The play opened in New York City in 2016 and there were a dozen shows. Rawal won the New York Innovative Theatre Award for the Best Original Script as well as critical and audience appreciation.
The present cast that will bring the play to Pune, a hub of theatre, includes Puja Sarup, Sharvari Deshpande, Danish Hussain and Mukul Chaddha prepares to reveal Queen Durga to Pune. Rawal is keen to hear how the city meets a jilted queen.
Award-winning playwright and actor Aditya Rawal brings his acclaimed historical drama The Queen to Pune 
“The Queen was also inspired by relationships I had seen at close quarters as well as great works, such as Macbeth and Medea.” – Aditya Rawal
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