Ebrahim Alkazi’s 1974 production, Purana Qila, New Delhi, 1974. Pic courtesy/Alkazi Theatre Archives/ Alkazi Foundation for the Arts

"A writer lives on through his words. What you need is young people to engage with them, making them relevant through their own contexts, understanding and upbringing," shares Grover, 27, who put together a cast of 13 actors of varying experience including senior artiste Chinmay Kelkar and 19-year-old Ansh Gupta. An alumnus of The Drama School Mumbai, Grover had read Karnad’s works as a student there. But it was while assisting veteran director Sunil Shanbag in his adaptation of Taledanda in March that the political intricacies of Karnad’s writing became more apparent. "Then the General Elections happened. With the complex character of its protagonist, Tughlaq helps you understand the psyche of a ruler by reflecting on the present through the prism of the past," he explains.

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This being his third directorial venture, Grover’s earlier plays, Ram Ji Aayenge and Krishna Sandhan, were contemporary takes on Indian mythology. With history now added to that, is this mix of the past and the fantastical the idiom that has come to define his work? "I was once speaking to [theatre director] Abhishek Majumdar and what he told me has stayed with me," he recalls. "He said, ‘Always do a classic in a new way. And treat a new play like a classic.’"

On Today and tomorrow, 7 pm
At The Drama School Mumbai, Charni Road.
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