Pallav Singh’s Play: Khwahish Gali

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