In times when re-mixes and bold videos have become the order of the day, acclaimed writer-actor-singer and music composer, Shekhar Sen, is busy inducing a social change with his riveting mono-acts musical plays. After performing a record number of 300 shows, 77 of them being that of 'Tulsi', 184 being that of 'Kabeer' and 39 shows of his latest mono-act musical, 'Vivekanand', Sen is now set to stage his 301st show on August 6 at ISCKON, followed by a series of other shows at Nehru Centre, Sophiya Hall, and Tejpal auditorium, in Mumbai.

"The play has elicited a tremendous response in Calcutta, Mumbai and other parts of the country when it was launched in January 2004, and I am expecting a similar response this time too." says the unassuming Sen who has always allowed his creative instincts to prevail over everything else. Sen, who learnt music from his parents, Dr Arun Kumar Sen and Aneeta Sen, classical singers of the Gwalior Gharana, has to his credit more than 77 audio releases, besides the music of serials like, 'Shivmahapuran' and 'Geeta Rahasya'. The audiocassettes of his plays 'Kabeer' and 'Vivekanand' are currently rated as the most sought after non-film albums in the market. He also gave playback in 'Ramayan' but it is his mono-act musicals that have got a commendable following all over the world, giving a new insight into the characters that he explores. So much so that when he opened the advance booking of his third play, 'Vivekanand', it received a thumping response with the audiences of Kabir and Tulsi, endorsing the play in full measure. "It showed that I had managed to build a unique bond with the audience who had seen my earlier two plays. It was an overwhelming experience no doubt," says Sen. The transition from a singer-composer to actor-singer with the introduction of the mono-act musical format in 'Tulsi', was a decision made on a creative impulse when Sen participated in an international concert on 'Ramayan' in 1997 as a singer participant. Two books on 'Ram Charit Manas' were released in Chinese and American on the occasion. "It brought an important question to my mind about how many people actually knew Tulsidas and what led him to write Ram Charit Manas in Awadhi, the language spoken by the hoi-polloi. I was also aware of the fact that he had to face stiff opposition from the Brahmin community, which was worried about its importance being undermined in the process, " he recalls. Sen simply visualized the script and it flowed uninterruptedly out of his pen. "It was simply amazing," he smiles. He initially decided to have a singer actor like Annu Kapoor to enact the mono-act musical but when he read out the script to noted literary writer, Dr. Dharamveer Bharati, he insisted that only Sen could do justice to it on screen. According to Sen, it was a very difficult decision with the odds weighing heavily against him, including the limited audiences that Hindi plays generally command. "The challenge was even bigger considering that this was a spiritually oriented subject. Moreover, Marathi and Gujarati theatres succeed because there are few Marathi and Gujarati films but the same cannot be said of the Hindi medium, what with 30 channels catering to the Hindi audiences round the clock. The show cost was a whopping figure of Rs. 70,000 - 80,000 per show, including 48 lights and professional sound person. The big question was why would a family opt for a spiritual mono-act play instead of a Shah Rukh Khan film?", asks Sen. The biggest problem was that of getting the right theatres. "The one popular theatre, Prithvi, known for Hindi plays with a capacity of 200 seats, did not have dates." Sen took the risk of booking theatres like Bhaidas, Birla Matoshree, Rangsharda, which had very big capacities resulting in heavy losses in the initial stages. "For the first few days the theatres virtually ran to empty audiences. The ticket sales touched the five-figure mark after almost eight months. We were on the verge of bankruptcy in the first year," recalls Sen. Thankfully for Sen, the production team of Shilpakar stood by him. Also the few people who had watched the play came back again and again with great appreciation bringing in their friends and relatives.

But decisions taken in good earnest never fail. The losses that he faced in 'Tulsidas' were compensated in his second play when the audience appreciation for Tulsidas translated into the overwhelming response for 'Kabir'. "It was a dream come true with shows packed to houseful capacity from day one. We reached a break-even point in the first three days something that had never happened to a non-glamorous Hindi play minus stars. Kabir restored our confidence and proved that there's always an audience for spiritual subjects too, " says Sen. So encouraging was the response that there were audiences from abroad who timed their visits to India in confirmation with the dates of the play, so that they could catch up with it. "Among them was a lady who had specially flew down to Mumbai from Chicago to attend the play though Mumbai was not on her itinerary in her visit to her Indian family friends. Then there was a New York teenager who was literally forced by his parents to see the play though he wanted to visit a disco in town and thanked me profusely later since it had thrown a new light on Indian culture," he says.

Sen has never looked back ever since. He is now readying for 'Vivekananda' which he is reviving after he had last staged it in January. "Vivekananda is an ideal for many of us. He has several followers the world over and I have covered every aspect of his life including the philosophy that he propounded that made him a world figure. The play has been written after extensive research on Vivekanand's lectures, letters and his experiences, besides the famous convention in the U.S. which he addressed," says Sen. He has now stopped recording music for outside companies because he wants to do full justice to what he has taken up. "It is not a recent decision. I stopped composing music for others the day I decided to start 'Tulsi'." Nor is he carried away by the umpteen offers he gets for television, ad films and feature films, which offer him lakhs of rupees. "That's because I don't want to end up doing inconsequential characters for materialistic gains," he says.

So what is the experience like when he is doing a solitary performance on stage lending his soul and voice to the character, you ask Sen. "No doubt, I am all alone for two hours on stage under a volley of 4000-5000 watts of lights. But it is a divine experience and one that cannot be expressed in words," smiles Sen, his eyes flooding with emotions."