Paytm Insider collaborates with Bhasha Centre

Theatre groups in India, barring the established few, rarely have the ability or resources to travel with their plays or even do more than a handful of shows in their own cities. Weeks and months of rehearsal, designing and planning seem to be used for just a weekend of shows in one space. For the makers, it sometimes feels not worth it, and for the audience, if you blink you miss it! Not anymore.  If you enjoy

theatre as an artist, audience or professional, there’s good news for you! India’s leading live entertainment platform, Paytm Insider is partnering with Bhasha Centre and bringing impactful and thought-provoking plays by Aagaaz Theatre Trust and Third Space Collective from October to December.  So people in Delhi and Mumbai, engaging stories featuring exceptional talent from the world of theatre are coming your way!

The line-up of shows that Paytm Insider is organising includes ‘Bhagi Hui Ladkiyan’ and ‘Rihla’ by Aagaaz Theatre Trust, and ‘Mahish’ by Third Space Collective.

‘Bhagi Hui Ladkiyan’ is directed by Dhwani Vij and the play is an articulation of the performers’ lives. The play revolves around four Muslim teenage girls from Delhi’s Nizamuddin Basti, and captures their everyday stories that explore ideas such as gender dynamics, identity, caste, consent, personal space and sexuality and invites the audience to walk with them. The performance sheds light on how these challenges affect their understanding of self and how the aspect of listening to stories of the self, affects the audience. The play highlights the contrast between the confining yet comfortable quality of the home space, and the liberating aspects of the outer world.

The piece uses objects, physical theatre, and cartography to execute a thought-provoking experience. The adventure begins with performances at Little Theatre Group (LTG) Auditorium, Delhi, on the 21st and 22nd of October and at BCP auditorium on November 18th and 19th. Tickets are priced at ₹ 100 onwards and are available on Paytm Insider. The play will also travel to Mumbai for shows at Harkat Studios, from Nov 25 - 27.

Coming to ‘Riḥla’, it’s an adaptation of Andreas Flourakis’ award-winning play ‘I Want A Country’. Directed by Neel Chaudhuri, the play brings together a cast of phenomenal actors represented by the Aagaaz Trust. They play characters of young rebels who seek to chart out a course for a ‘new country’, a new identity, fresh values and a space to claim as their own. They fight, argue, mock and educate each other and reveal their dreams, fears and secrets. Rihla provides a valid and concerning point to start a discussion – “Are we the answer or are we, unintentionally, the eternal question?”

The play will be staged at BCP Auditorium on November 20th and will travel to Mumbai for shows at Veda Factory on December 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Tickets will soon be available on Paytm Insider.

Merging religion and politics, Delhi-based theatre group- Third Space Collective’s Hindi play, ‘Mahish’ (buffalo) is a modern-day rendition of Romanian French playwright Eugene Ionesco’s play ‘Rhinoceros’, adapted for the stage by Rajesh Nirmal and directed by Neel Sengupta.

In a town which is engrossed in annual Navratra festivities, a beguiling event turns everyone’s world upside-down. Close loved ones and acquaintances, it is heard, are transforming into Mahish— a phenomenon which everyone can identify but no one is able to comprehend. What is actually happening? Vandana, a young woman who works at a newspaper is a bystander to the apparent transformation of all those around her, but she refuses to settle for such an abrupt end to the ‘human’ race.

The play will be staged at various venues in Delhi starting November 20th.

Varun Khare, Business Head, Paytm Insider, said, “This collaboration with Bhasha centre will present a  series of impactful plays whose stories are unique, exciting, uplifting, funny, and heartbreaking, making it a unique experience.  Through this collaboration with Bhasha Center, we hope to bring more of these experiences to cities across the country, growing the community further.”

Vivek Madan, Founder, Director - Bhasha Center for Performing Arts Pvt. Ltd., said, “This partnership comes at the right time for the theatre fraternity, reeling from 2 years of a pandemic and lockdowns. Aagaaz and Third Space have really made the most of this opportunity by programming these plays at several venues, making them accessible to a cross section of society. Bhasha Centre, as an organisation that aims to facilitate more and more work, is working with Paytm Insider to enable a range of quality theatre performances, from across the country. These plays are not to be missed.”