Theatre veteran Tripurari Sharma’s Roop Aroop discusses gender stereotypes

Even as it takes up sensitive issues such as gender bias and the notion of a real woman, Roop Aroop brings together live singing, dancing, power-packed performances and humour on stage. Actors Happy Ranajit and Gauri Dewal, as the two protagonists, explore a range of human dimensions and the collision of gender stereotypes. “I did a lot of research initially and saw a lot of interviews. The role is also very personal for me because, when I was young, I was very beautiful with pink lips. I used to get a complex: ‘do I look like a girl?’ This play has been like a catharsis for me that everything is fine. I just tried to be real,” says Ranajit, an alumnus of National School of Drama, Delhi.

The play also draws from the popular performing tradition of nautanki. Till a few years ago — and in some parts of India even now — men adorned female persona in plays. It was only towards the middle of the 20th century that women set foot on stage among these communities of traditional singers and dancers. For the women, till then, enacting on stage was a distant dream, and the play explores how they began to share space.