Cyrus Dastur has become one of the prominent names in the Indian theatre circuit since his flagship production WHEN GOD SAID CHEERS co-starring Tom Alter and directed and acted by Dastur became a hit. His latest offering is a production called INTEHAA, starring Tom Alter and Juhi Babbar. The play is based on the works of Mirza Ghalib, one of the greatest names in Urdu Literature. And with the New Year comes yet another play titled GANDHI (15th August 1947-30th January 1948). The play will premiere at the Shamiana festival, which will take place in Mumbai between 11th and 20th January 2008. The play purports to present a chronicle of the last critical year of the Mahatma�s life. While much is known about his political and also his personal life, this production is an attempt to decipher a period of which very little is known. The Mahatma�s frustrations, his anguish, his feelings, his thoughts... everything he went through after Independence and before his assasination.For the last six years, Cyrus has also been actively involved with the short films� industry in various ways. What started out as a simple platform for projecting and viewing short films is today grown into a potentially strong business model. Dastur firmly believes that every industry needs an economic model for it to survive and grow and this is exactly the reason why he has championed the cause for a revenue generating model in the short films� industry. Here Cyrus answers a few, quick and basic questions about �Shamiana�, an Arts & Culture Festival that he has organized along with a group of friends and colleagues.- Deepa Punjani.  MTG editorial What led to the conception of Shamiana? Shamiana was basically an outcome of our zeal and enthusiasm, because we (my fellow committee members Rohini Gupta and Manju Mohinani) wanted to do something exciting, not necessarily different. Something that we would enjoy doing and not necessarily have a reason to do it� In this city, you always look for a reason to do anything. I mean why do we need a reason to celebrate? Shamiana is just a celebration of life, of every moment where I just want to enjoy my existence and not bother about other things in life. I�d be happy if a person wants to live another day after seeing all the fun at our fest. How long did it take to put this festival together? Though a lot of planning has gone into the whole thing, we�ve had so much fun doing it that we�ve just lost track of when we started. Earlier last year, we did a 3-day short film fest (by the same name) and that�s what actually spurred us to do a big 10-day fest. So basically the germ in our minds was planted as long back as last April� but without trying to sound modest, the fest would�nt have been possible without the support of so many people What are the main attractions at the festival? Well, there�s something for everyone in one way or the other. Like there�s theatre (had to be, with me being a theatrewallah!!), there are short film nites (again moi!), featured film screenings, stand-up acts, an impromptu rap session, even a skit by a college group. So there�s so much of livewire fun happening that it would be impossible to be bored. And I�m not saying this because it�s my fest� Plus there�re tons of workshops and poetry evenings. But if there�s one thing I�m looking forward to, it�s the kite-flying session we�re having on Makar Sankranti. And yeah, I�m a bigggggg fan of stand-up acts! Is it a one-off event or do you plan to host the festival each year? As long as the city continues to have fun, the fest will go on. Ideally, I�d like to be a part of the fest but I�d want the city to come and just own it at some point. I want the city to own the fest� it�s something that belongs to the city of Bombay, not a few individuals. I�d be really disappointed if it doesn�t become an annual event. Shamiana is a symbol of the celebratory spirit of the city, that people can come together and put up a show without needing a reason. Your new production GANDHI is going to premiere at the festival. How do you think it will be received? Mahatma Gandhi continues to fascinate people even after so many years. I see a whole new section of people interested in him. My play focuses on that phase of his life of which very little is known. My play makes an attempt to decipher what actually went on in his mind once we attained freedom. Was he a happy man? Was he pained to see the India ruled by his own countrymen? And what eventually led to the death of the man�s dream? The play is an experimental attempt to tell the story the way we thought best. A man of his stature and a phase as controversial as this, I�d be surprised if it doesn�t open to strong reactions. But I guess I�m a bit experienced to handle it. I think we owe it to the man; it�s a story that now demands to be told. *The interviewer is Editor of this site, a theatre critic and an academic interested in Theatre & performance Studies. 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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. 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