Manoj Shah of Ideas Unlimited has carved a unique niche for himself on the contemporary Gujarati stage. His style has been considered innovative and his subjects purport to bring on a cultural renaissance in a Gujarati Theatre that has become synonymous with banal comedies. His upcoming three day festival at Prithvi Theatre from June 25th to June 27th 2010 will feature six of his company's productions along with platform performances.  Deepa Punjani Manoj bhai, your theatre group Ideas Unlimited is perhaps the only contemporary Gujarati theatre group in Mumbai to have done plays consistently and with professional expertise for the parallel Gujarati stage. How did it all begin? Tell us a little about your journey so far. My journey started with a filmy 'nagin' dance that I had performed during Parushana in a temple. Friends liked it and they called me to their college to participate in a folk dance competition. I was an expert and used to choreograph folk dances for various colleges and communities. One day I saw the intercollegiate drama festival and met Mahendra Joshi. A bolt of lightning struck me and I started theatre. My journey is over 30 years old now. My first play was MASTER PHOOLMANI and my current play is HELLO GUJARAT My yatra is on. With the exception of MASTER PHOOLMANI and a few other plays, almost all of your work has centered on staging biographies of Gujarati stalwarts from the fields of art, culture, philosophy and politics. It almost appears that you are on a crusade of sorts for bringing to your audience what you consider to be the cultural and literary heritage of Gujarat. There is also the unmistakable desire to emphasize on the Gujarati identity. What is your ideology behind doing so? It is to discover and re-brush my roots, which are like a kaleidoscope of our Gujarati heritage. Have you ever felt the danger of glorifying and romanticizing the past? Especially since most of your central characters on which the plays are based go back a long way in history. Increasing elements of myth whose historical validity might be questionable are also noted in your productions like JAL JAL MARE PATANG and AMAR FAL. What do you feel about these issues? I am in a process... The festival will feature six of your group's productions, including your new play- HELLO GUJARAT, Had you planned this festival for long? No. What kind of platform performances can one expect to see? Here is the list: 1. CHANDRAKANT SHAH: HATTS OFF HATTS OFF - a rap song, which salutes the poets and writers of the Gujarati bhasha (language). 2. UTTAM GADA: RED SEA - producer, director and assistant of a film interact with Shri Gunvantrai Acharya for his novel 'Dariyalal' 3. RAIS MANIAR: AMRIT JIVAN, a suicidal act on creative writing & SATYA MEHTA: GOKUL KAHE - Tips on how to sell Gujarati Literature 4. Raju Dave: Ranjitram Desai's Gujarati Master Nandan Prasad. 5. BHUPEN KHAKHER : ENGLISH PREM - Teaching Gujarati English love 6. SANJAY CHEL: Narmad Nu Bhoot - Threat to today's poet by Narmad. Sanat Vyas, Pratap Sachde, Sharad Sharma, Anurag Prapanna, Mehul Buch, Bhairvi Vaidy, Bhamini Oza Gandhi, Chirag Vora will be participating in these platform performances. Don't you feel like doing a play that is more contemporary than which is located in the 'golden' past? I have done contemporary plays by Samuel Backett, Peter Handke, August Stindburg, Aleksi Arubzov, Robert Patrick, Bhupen Khakhar, Madhurai, and Chekhov. 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Interview 2 Timira Gupta Jyoti Dogra Lillette Dubey Mahesh Dattani Chandan Roy Sanyal Sunil Shanbag (ii) Jairaj Patil Jehan Manekshaw K Raja Ravi Verma Sankar Venkateswaran Heisnam Tomba Hariharan Jamini Pathak Hilda David Satish Alekar Vir Das Ranjit Hoskote Om Katare Nipun Dharmadhikari Satyadev Dubey Dipan Ray Stefan Kaegi Zafar Karachiwala Dakxin Bajrange Makarand Sathe Ramu Ramanathann Cyrus Dastur Shekhar Sen Benjamin Juhel Chaitanya Tamhane And Sudeep Modak Sujata Mehta Asif Basra Barry John Nagesh Bhosale Astad Deboo Manhar Gadhia Sandesh Bhandare Usha Ganguli Sushama Deshpande & Suhas Joshi Jyoti Vyas Arundhati Nag Habib Tanvir Ramu Ramanathan Pushan Kripalani Harold Pinter Rajeev Ravindranathan Rajendra Gupta Viji Iyengar Sunil Shanbag Darshan Jariwalla Smriti Irani Atul Kumar1 Ashwin Gidwani Toral Shah Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal1 Shaili Sathyu Sanjay Narvekar Rohini Hattangady Dr. Ashok Ranade Vandana Sajnani Mahesh Elkunchwar Madhu Rye Mahesh Thakur Srimathi Madiman Kinnari Vohra Joy Fernandes C.K. Thakkar Jameel Khan Anupama Jayaram Lilelette Dubey Avatar Gill Dharmendra Gohil Rajesh Puri Kumud Mishra Kumar Shahu Meenal Patel Mujeeb Khan Anant Mudra Utkarsh Mazumdar Shekhar Sen1 Manav Kaul Rati Agnihotri Smita Jaykar Uday Chandra Rahul Da Cunha Atul Kumar Manoj Joshi Jaimini Pathak Boman Irani Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal Naseerudin Shah Joy Fernandez Kamlesh Mota Dinesh Thakur    Discussion Board

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