Drama in a foodie’s kingdom

Director Timira Gupta used the best-loved portions of the book to draw out the story of a food-obsessed king, his extremely fussy daughter, and the three poor chefs tasked with finding something the princess would eat. To prepare for their roles, the actors say they remained in character even outside of rehearsal. They have even based the characters’ likes and dislikes on their preferences in real life. For instance, Sahil Gangurde, who plays the king, hates dal kichdi too.

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There is much a child would love about A Silly Story of Bondapalli. The chefs draw admiration with their juggling antics, throwing up whisks, bailans, spatulas, and other kitchen utensils. “I love the idea of three chefs,” says Gupta. “I have a background in clowning, and a trio is a typical clown formula.” The butlers turn cartwheels and dance arm in arm. The king prances around, applauding his chefs’ innovations one minute, and the next minute he threatens to cut their heads off when they fail to please the princess. During the performance, the characters often break the “fourth wall” of theatre to improvise and address the children directly. But there is little doubt that the core of the play, food, is what has enraptured the kids.

“Children are obsessed with food, whether they like what the food is or not,” says Janit Temkar, who plays one of the chefs. “During one performance, a child came up on stage and snatched a rasgulla that was part of the set,” recalls Temkar. While the king declares, “I am a Foodie King, and wherever you go in my kingdom people love food,” children are able to let their imaginations run wild. Their mouths water for the chefs’ watermelon parathas — “crisp on the outside, cool on the inside, the perfect way to beat the summer heat”— and the stuffed turkey cooking in a tandoor that the king ordered all the way from Iran.

“We all have traumatic memories of being force-fed as a child,” says Gupta, adding, “In the play, I’ve tried to show that adults are often disconnected with the eating habits of their child.” She herself is haunted by memories of having to drink the “horrendously pink” rose milk at her grandmother’s home. Similarly, as the chefs try desperately to find something the princess likes, she complains that everyone is trying to feed her something “special” against her will. “I’m happy eating chapati, even plain rice,” she cries out.

While Gupta and Shaili Sathyu, the play’s producer and founder of the theatre group Gillo, want to maintain the essence of the story, they are also aware that the fussiness of the Rajkumari might trigger the same behaviour in a child in the audience. Temkar believes that the play has the potential to bridge misunderstandings between parents and their children. “After watching the play, a child might say to their parents, ‘I also don’t like dal khichdi, why do you make me eat it?’ That’s the challenge, for parents to make the child understand their reasoning.”

In the end, however, the play focusses on “celebrating food”, says Sathyu. As Gangurde says of his character: “The king relates food to happiness. In his kingdom, happiness is derived from eating.”

A Silly Story of Bondapalli will premiere on May 21, 6.30 pm, at Experimental Theatre, NCPA, Mumbai; at Prithvi Theatre on May 25 and May 26 at 12 pm and 4 pm