Makrand Deshpande re-interprets the Sudama-Krishna friendship for our times through his new play POHA GONE WRONG.  Deepa Ranade You have three of your plays - JOKE, MISS BEAUTIFUL, and POHA GONE WRONG running over one weekend. What's the game plan? Our basic principle at Ansh Theatre is to execute a new, exciting idea as soon as it appears to me. We also manage to pull it off quickly and the moment we have a free week ahead of us, we see to it that we have a new play opening. POHA.., MISS BEAUTIFUL and JOKE - all the three plays are playing this weekend because we have a loyal audience backing us and new viewers joining in. It is exciting to have a widening circle. It is like having an affair with the audience and I always like to date them. POHA GONE WRONG claims to straddle the modern and the mythological. What inspired this creative juxtaposition? My earlier play KARODON MEIN EK was about a father-son relationship. JOKE is about a man who renounces his religion in the times of terrorism. Now I wanted to interpret the relevance of friendship in today's times. I thought about a close, low profile friend who is present only in private meetings. He is never seen publicly. I placed that timid friend in our mythology and I delved into Sudama's mind to create a friend in today's times. That is how POHA...germinated. Does POHA... feature Krishna? POHA is the story of three friends - two sisters and a poor Brahmin boy. The Brahmin boy personifies the helpless Sudama, who could never become a Krishna for them. I enjoyed pitching that character in our times today. And the audience also enjoyed the concept at the opening show. Friendship is a wide spectrum of emotions. In your play which is the foremost sentiment that you have focused on? The focus is on the rare, selfless love of a friend. In the play, Sudama asks Krishna to justify how he could be his close friend if he did not share the agony of the Mahabharata with him. Krishna explains to him that he did not wish to corrupt his pure mind and assured him that as long as best friends are named, Sudama's name will feature the foremost. The cast of POHA... has actors who are relatively new to Ansh. Was that a deliberate attempt to keep up with Ansh's motto of harnessing new talent? I work with actors who come into my life. I cast people rather than actors. Ahlam Khan - essaying the elder sister is known to me, I had seen Neha Saraf in Swanand Kirkire's play and I had liked her then - she plays the younger sister. Raj Arjun who plays the elder sister's lover had worked with me eight years ago and he called me for a role and so it was. I chose to play Sudama myself. Do you consider yourself your lucky talisman? You always cast yourself in your plays. You also write, direct and produce them. Total creative control - is that your mantra? Absolutely right! I want total control. Then I don't need to worry about corporate financing. I want to put forth my ideas directly before the audience which is best done by being the producer, writer and director. I cast myself in my plays because things get easier in terms of connectivity with my co-actors as well as the audience. I like my plays to be effortless and flowing. A play must be fun... mazedaar... What sort of music have you designed for the play? The music had to reflective of both mythology and the contemporary times. Shailendra Barve's music for the play is best described as fusion. We have mixed shlokas from Bhagwad Geeta, conch sounds with the rhythms we are familiar with today. POHA... hovers on the brink of folk theatre. We have even recreated Kurukshetra on the stage through sound and lighting. Which is your favourite character from the Mahabharata and what impresses you about that character? In the Mahabharata, Krishna is the ultimate, fascinating character. I am also excited by the character of Eklavya. He is one of the deprived characters of the epic. While Sudama and Radha were deprived of Krishna's love. Does commercial success ever feature in your mind while you create your plays? Which has been your biggest hit? I never think from a commercial angle because over the last decade I have my audience with me. It's just that I do not perform that many shows. EK KADAM AAGE, KARODON MEIN EK and the SIR SIR SARLA trilogy were hits. Currently JOKE is unstoppable! Define brand Makrand Deshpande and his theatre - absurd, surreal or bizarre? When I started in 1990 my theatre was absurd, bizarre but playful. Sudhir Pandey and Kay Kay Menon were a part of my madness then. 1997 onwards I made a conscious effort to lead the audience through my ideas - my plays had to be a spectacle - with a visual effect. Then it used to be an elite affair. Slowly I have started picking up human issues. Today I would call my theatre as a fusion of illusion and reality. Is Mak as you are popularly known, coming of age finally? Sure. I am coming back to life slowly from the realms of fantasy - it has been a deliberate shift since KARODON MEIN EK and the SARLA trilogy. Now you can call me a human writer. Who have been your creative influences in theatre? My first guru is Dr Anil Bandiwadekar. He had a unique perspective of the issues he surveyed. I learnt the disciplineof writing from the late Mahindra Joshi. Satyadev Dubey has been a great influence on my maturing as a theatre person. My dear writer friend Raj Supe has been a deep influence. As a playwright I am impressed by Sanskrit writers like Bhaasa and I like the realism of Vijay Tendulkar. I also like the plays of Mahesh Elkunchwar and Shafat Khan. How do you envisage the future of experimental theatre in India? Why don't you ever write plays in Marathi? Experimental Theatre in India will remain ambiguous because even today you will get sponsors for Shakespeare but not for native writing. There is no financial framework for experimental theatre; even in Marathi Theatre it is not lucrative. Earlier Chhabildas theatre was earmarked for Marathi experimental shows and now Prithvi has the affordable Tuesdays and Wednesdays ticketed at Rs 80. So venues are crucial for the sustenance of experimental theatre. There is a regular audience also for it. The state cultural department must patronize it. Is a muse vital for your plays? No not at all... a new idea becomes my muse. Which are your forthcoming film projects as an actor? And as a director? I have a good role in 'Khatta Meetha', an important cameo in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Guzarish' and an important role in his other home production 'My Friend Pinto'. My directorial venture - 'Shah Rukh Bola Khubsurat Hai Tu' is ready for release in September. Do you propose any more new film projects? Oh yes. I am working on a Marathi film script right now. *Deepa Ranade is a film and theatre reviewer. 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