Kalki Koechlin's trivial pursuits

How would it be, if the pressures that are burdening you day in and day out brought you comic relief? Impossible in real life? We think so too, but you can always live those moments in a lighter vein through Trivial Disasters, a new play directed by Atul Kumar. Written by Ajay Krishnan, the production will see established actors like Kalki Koechlin, Richa Chadda, Purab Kohli and Cyrus Sahukar perform a series of comic sketches that will take banal events and situations from everyday life and turn them upside down.

Poster of the play


Multiplicity
"Trivial Disasters is a bunch of people going nuts on stage. Not nuts on purpose, they have just slowly ended up that way with all the pressures of the world around them. It's funny but scary too," reveals Koechlin who is playing multiple characters in the play with names like Nikki, Mrs Dixit, and Monsieur Patrick.

Kalki Koechlin

The play has nine sketches that Koechlin says play out human absurdities. For instance, there is a man who is unable to complete his sentences when he wants to propose to his girlfriend, a talk show interview with an accomplished serial killer, and a poet who is invited by the city municipal board to help compose road safety slogans. The play also includes a man who insists that his broken kettle is under the warranty period, a son who wants to reveal something important to his parents; a wife who wants to negotiate with the kidnappers of her husband, and a young man who wants to confess in church but has nothing to confess.

Role play
The actress admits that she always wanted to work with director Atul Kumar, so this was a good opportunity. "I admire him and wanted to work with him. Also, I've shot a film with Richa Chhada called Jia Aur Jia, so we know each other and get along well,"informs Koechlin.

The play will tour across India starting from Bangalore and travelling to Chennai, Jaipur, Mumbai, Nagpur, Indore, Lucknow, Patna, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

Talking about her experience, actress Richa Chadda shares, "Trivial Disasters is proving to be a terrifying and exasperating experience for me as an actor, as I have to push myself each time. But in that, it's a tongue-in-cheek ‘statutory warning' of our times."