A play explores the idea of freedom along with a meal that would suit the 1947 palate
It has been six decades since we became free of British colonialism and formed our independent nation. But how free are we? What does freedom mean after all?
These are questions that Nikita Rana, a digital marketing professional, was pondering over for a while, which eventually shaped up as the play, Flight to Freedom to be staged later this month. The collaborative play includes inputs from people with diverse background with their own interpretations of the idea of freedom and their debates with it.
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The cast of Flight to Freedom brush up their history. pics/Neerja Rajshekhar
There are students who wonder what freedom means for the youth of today, working women who talk about their freedom measured by the judgments and interviews with people from different walks of life.
Students of NMIMS rehearse a 21-year old boy’s story (a part of the play), whose parents had decided
he would go to IIT the moment he was born and the doctor had declared the baby’s gender
“Everybody who came on board moulded the play and finally, it has become an example of collaborative work,” Rana says. On the choice of topic, she mentions that her favourite writers are Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter and that lead her to exploration of the ideas that rule the world. “Last month, after some encouragement from a school friend, who runs a theatre company in Bengaluru, I decided to finish the play.
I shared my idea with Nandini Suryanarayan from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, who immediately got Unnikrishnan Abhinav, who is also a student at the institute, on board. “We discussed the idea and after two days and a few fights, Abhinav sent me a lovely draft of freedom sketches. I then added to the play and got actors involved,” says Rana. The event would also have a specially curated Independence Day meal that will include dishes that the leaders preferred in 1947.
Based on what we’ve seen so far, the glimpse of wit on the poster with Mahatma Gandhi urging Mohammad Ali Jinnah to take a selfie before they set off for the day of struggle, because he looks so dapper, impressed us.
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