As Arif explains, "Because of Section 377, the whole issue of gender has come back [in discussion] in a different way." And yet, mindsets haven’t changed. "We still expect men to be leaders, to take charge and fight wars. When it comes to passing the Women’s Reservation Bill, Parliament still isn’t unanimous. So, in the context of the play, I found these elements interesting for discussion," he adds.

The play, produced as a musical, will open Dr Shankar Shesh Natyotsav, a pan-Indian theatre festival organised by Shankar Shesh Foundation Trust, which the playwright’s son Sanjay Shesh founded in 2015. The trust organises monthly play readings at the Shesh residence in Chembur, and works towards finding new talent in Hindi theatre. Several cities of central India including Bhopal, Indore, Hoshangabad and Jabalpur will also play host to other famous plays the Bilaspur-born writer penned in his short life.

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"Dr Shesh has been one of the most performed playwrights in the Hindi heartland. A prolific writer, he was part of the crucial experimental Hindi theatre movement in Mumbai in the ’70s. Sadly, he never got the recognition that should have come his way," Arif laments.

ON October 1 and 2, 7.30 pm (St Andrew’s Auditorium, Bandra West); October 5, 7.30 pm (Royal Opera House)
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