Theatre artiste Mallika Singh Hanspal wins major award

Speaking from Mumbai, where she is rehearsing with Takalkar for his next play Love and Information, the actor says that winning a META was “a very nice feeling as it acknowledged and appreciated the work we do.” “It is not about competing. I liked that everybody at META was celebrating theatre,” she adds. Hanspal shared the prize with Delhi-based Mallika Taneja, who had performed Do You Know This Song?.

Hanspal entered theatre in 2012, with her first teacher being Trishla Patel who runs Tpot, a production company. She has worked with several stalwarts of theatre, such as Atul Kumar and Rajat Kapoor.

“It is not a certain kind of play that I like to perform in. It is the process of creating something that really attracts me,” she says. Ghanta Ghanta Ghanta Ghanta Ghanta marked Takalkar’s first Marathi performance after a long time and Hanspal, a Mumbaikar all her life, is not fluent in the language. This was just one of the challenges she faced with the play though the script was such that her language was kept flexible.

“Mohit would not correct my language and let it be. Everybody else would speak Marathi in Pune and were supportive, which helped me,” she says. This was also her first two hander, with both actors being on stage all the time.

For a long time, Hanspal enjoyed every performance by Aasakta that was staged in Mumbai. Now, she has become a part of the group’s story.