Guldasta is set to acquaint viewers with a modern vintage — a generation of writers we have forgotten. It holds one sprig for each of our sentiments. Khol Do and Shaljam by Saadat Hasan Manto, Kamleshwar’s Circus, and Harishankar Parsai’s Do Naak Waale Log are only a few from a select line-up of stories. Since adaptations leave room for liberties, we ask Sami if staying loyal to the text is extra challenging: “It is! There’s an emotion even in small things like ek rupaiyya and do rupaiyya, and actors find it hard to relate to. Ten bucks is nothing in the present times, but it was a lot back then. Someone asked me ‘Yeh tanga kya hota hai [What’s a tanga]?’ These literary cues had to be absorbed to understand the intensity of words,” Sami explains. The concept for the piece came together during the Monday workshops that Sami held with actor Trishla Patel, to train actors and volunteers at Prithvi Theatre.

Jyoti Kapoor, who features in Shaljam, tells us that being a living part of an Urdu script took time. “For a few weeks, I only spoke in Urdu to get my accent right. My husband used to call me begum to add to the feeling,” she laughs, adding, “But the delay in getting the act out due to the virus helped me, in a way. For a long time, these writers and characters were our constituency. I could hone my craft in that stretch.” 

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The play will present a random assortment of seven to eight stories on the days of its staging.

On: March 12 to 13, 7 pm
At: Studio Tamaasha, Andheri West.
Log on to: in.bookmyshow.com
Cost: Rs 200