Pallav Singh’s Play: Khwahish Gali

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Playwright: Pallav Singh
Director: Hari Shankar Ravi
Group: NSD Student Diploma Production, New Delhi
Language: Hindi
Duration: 1 hr 20 mins

The Play
The seed of this play was planted during the site visit of G.B. Road (now Shraddhanand Marg), and was nurtured by the news and facts i.e. real incidents which were fictionalized and merged with the geography and social fabric of the site. This gave rise to the characters of the play, whose stories were intertwined by the dramaturgy team. The visual references were drawn from works of many new media and visual artists. The narrative was conceptualized by the playwright in the form of blogs written by the protagonist Baidehi Chandola, which reach us through a web journalist Meeta, thus unbuttoning the repercussions on the residence of ‘Khwahish Gali’, a destination of desire and a dead-end to love, according to Baidehi.

Director’s Note
Being a young Indian director, I make sure that my art speaks about the marginalized and the victims of social oppression. Violence, be it physical, mental or verbal has severely affected the women of every region. When I was looking for a subject for my diploma production, I intended to share my thoughts on this subject. But it was challenging to choose the kind of oppression I would wish to convey through my production. I discussed this with my teachers and classmates and decided to choose the suffering of sex workers as the subject. My classmate Pallav Singh took the responsibility of dramatizing the concept. We started our research through films, plays, documentaries, and books, and by visiting brothels. On meeting the sex workers, we discussed their problems and their lives. After this we made our first draft and kept editing it with the help of Asif Ali Haider Khan and our guide Dr. Abhilash Pillai. The play came to its final draft during the process of making this performance. Our team has gone through many ups and downs in the process of the making of this play, but we stood together as a team and took up the challenge of making the worst circumstances favourable. Being a designer and director I love to portray a large canvas in my artworks. Thus resulted the design of Khwahish Gali with the collaboration of 45 artists as the cast and crew.

The Director
Hari Shankar Ravi is a post-graduate in theatre studies, with specialisation in Direction from National School of Drama. As an artist working in multidisciplinary set-up, he has worked and collaborated with various groups, performance makers, directors, visual artists and choreographers to create a wide range of art works as a designer, assistant director, director and collaborator in Bihar and throughout India. He has worked with several NGOs and groups to create social awareness through theatre.

The Playwright
Pallav Singh is a post graduate with specialization in Acting from National School of Drama. He is an actor and a playwright. He started writing plays while he was pursuing Engineering at Sikkim Manipal University.

The Group
This play is a part of National School of Drama’s graduate showcase of class 2019. It aims to provide a platform to encourage emerging theatre practitioners to share their work with a wider audience.

Cast & Credits
Baidehi Chandola Yashaswini R
Kajal Dikhsha Tiwari
Salu Aditi Arora/ Snehalata Tagde
Meeta Sugandha Pandey
Durga Poonam Dhaiya
Rukhsaar Bhumisuta Das
Rumi Snigdha Mondal
Surbhi Anmol Ghuliani
Monty Pallav Singh
Master Manoj Thapar
Trumpet Parmanand
Banjo Jitu Rabha
Dholak Mridul Chawla
Sonu Shiv Swaroop
Photographer Pushkar Tripathi
Parikshit Singh Ankur Saxena/ Vivek kumar
Thumri Dance Team Ashwini Joshi, Shruti, Diksha Tiwari, Aditi Arora, Poonam Dahiya, Sugandha Pandey, Apsara Khan, Arzoo, Juhi, Akaanksha, Vaibhavi, Savita, Aditi, Gurleen Kaur (Aashna)
Guest Artists Arzoo, Juhi, Akaanksha, Vaibhavi, Savita, Aditi, Avinash, Sumit, Gurleen Kaur (Aashna), Ankit, Sunny, Pushkar, Shiv

Choreography Ishita Agarwal, Agrima Grover
Music Composition Swayam Gadhvai, Manoj, Jitu, Sayan, Sandy
Background Score Sandy
Sarangi Anil Mishra
Dholak Dhiraj Kumar
Harmonium Rajesh Pathak
Guitar Sandy
Graphic Artist Tribhuman Nath
Properties Poonam Dhaiya, Apsara Khan
Lead Vocal Ayushi Mishra
Special Vocal Rajnish Ranjan
Projection Balasubramanian G., Saras Namdeo, Vishala R Mahale
Sound Design Vishala R Mahale
Light Design Sarthak Narula
Costume Design Priyanshi Agrawal
Supported by Jitu Rabha, Diksha Tiwari
Make-up Sejuti Bagchi, Abhilasha B Paul
Archiving & Photography Amresh K. Anand
Poster Jitu Rabha
Brochure Amresh K. Anand
Dramaturgy Pallav Singh, Hari Shankar Ravi, Vishala R Mahale
Special Thanks M K Raina, N K Sharma, Anuradha Kapur, Geetanjali Shree,
Asif Ali Haider Khan, Randhir Kumar

Guidance Abhilash Pillai

Lyricist & Playwright Pallav Singh
Design & Direction Hari Shankar Ravi

Contacts
Hari Shankar Ravi
M: +91 9718335988
E: hsravi.is.star@gmail.com

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Manohar Khushalani

Manohar Khushalani

Prof. Manohar Khushalani is a former Visiting Faculty at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi. The courses he taught were: Animation & Graphics, Non-Linear Editing for Film and Radio and Theatre Appreciation.  He has won a total of nine Excellence in Teaching awards for all the courses he has taught at IIITD Earlier he retired from Government of India as Director Environment Management, Central Water Commission and held many senior positions in the Government Based on a Belief that Culture and Environment are the two keys to global sustainability , Manohar Khushalani has launched two portals: A Portal on Environment and Water called One Vorld at url: www.onevorld.org and two Ezines on Culture called Stage Buzz at url: www.stagebuzz.in He has taught extensively in varied subjects such as Dam Safety, Instrumentation, CAD, IT, Animation, Theatre, Newspaper Editing. He has conducted Courses on Environment Management, Water Shed Development, Team Building and Personality Development. He was an Expert Member of Prasar Bharti’s Committee for Grading & Short listing Films for Telecast on all channels of Doordarshan.  He is a Radio Anchor for All India Radio and has moderated several programs for the Rajdhani Channel He is a well-known Theatre Actor/Director and Critic, has been involved in theatre since 1977. He has worked as an actor in over 50 plays with almost every leading director/Actor in the Country including Badal Sircar, Feisal Alkazi, Amal Allana, M.K. Raina, Anuradha Kapoor, Maya Rao, Manohar Singh, Prasanna, Rati Bartholomew and Sushmita Mukherji. He has been active in the social sector as a street theatre activist. As a member of Workshop Theatre, Theatre Union and Prayog, Khushalani has participated in street plays taking up major social issues such as dowry, bride burning, Sati, banned medicinal drugs and communalism. Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Can’t Pay Won’t Pay, both directed by him, received rave notices from critics and audiences alike. Other plays directed by him include Badal Sircar’s, Sagina Mahato and Boris Vian’s Empire Builders for Ruchika Theatre Group. Khushalani has also acted in a few films such as Sudhir Mishra's Hazaron Khwaishen Aisi , Shoojit Sircar’s Madras Café and Pradeep Krishan's Annie Gives Those Ones. He is an Animator & Graphics Designer and has directed a number of documentaries. He also held a number of Honorary positions and was President of North India Films Association, He was the Chairman of  Jury for UGC CEC Educational Films Competition and has been on their Preview Committee since last many years. He was on the preview committee of Door Darshan Channel 3, was a visiting Professor at National School of Drama, New Delhi, and Film & Television Institute of India, Pune, AJKMCRR, Jamia Milia Islamia and Professor in Media at FICT, Delhi  He has judged a large number of Drama Competitions and conducted a number of Theatre / Management Games Workshops with Institutions such as AIIMS, NTPC, CWPRS, NWA, Karve Nari Prakshishan Sansthan, FICT, IIT, MAMC, Gargi College, KNC, Tagore International School and Vivekananda School. He is a Theatre Critic for IIC Diary, has also been a Columnist with Midday and Pioneer Daily and wrote Column's Called Culture Cocktail and Footlights Respectively. He was also the Guest Editor for an issue on Folk Theatre of ICCR Journal Horizons. He has written for Times of Indian, Hindustan Times, Blitz, Hard News, Hindu Business Line, Theatre India & Art Times. He has designed dams and hydraulic structures for the Government. He is a programmer and has developed Engineering design software in Fortran. He is a co-author of Irrigation Practice & Design (Vol 1 to5 - 1500 pages) published by Oxford & IBH and sponsored by National Book Trust. He has been a Director, Environment and Sociology, at the National Water Academy, Khadakwasla and Director, Environment Management Directorate, Central Water Commission and Member Secretary, National Environmental Monitoring Committee for River Valley Projects. He was also Director of Instrumentation Directorate in the Dam Safety Organisation. He was Chief General Manager and Head of Water Resources at Scott Wilson and is an accredited consultant with numerous other organizations He is a Delhi Public School, BITS Pilani, IIT Delhi and FTI Pune Alumini. He was also the President of BITS Pilani Alumni Association, Pune.

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