What's on in January at the NCPA in Mumbai

We want to reach the broadest and most varied audience we can. bringing a combination of live and filmed events in many languages to our flexible choice of facilities

Representational images. Pic/iStock

It's an exciting moment because performers are performing on stage, and the spotlight is back and shining brightly. A terrific programme of presentations has the NCPA buzzing. The NCPA theatre division produces, stages, and hosts top-notch theatre that amuses, engages, and inspires.

We want to reach the broadest and most varied audience we can. bringing a combination of live and filmed events in many languages to our flexible choice of facilities. Our programming features the very finest regional, national, and international performers, and includes everything from new writing to physical theatre, musicals, live and online broadcasts, spoken word, classic movies, and stand-up comedy.

Coming up in January:

Comedy for Comedy's Sake

An NCPA Off-Stage Presentation In collaboration with Comedy Ladder

Comedy - English, Hindi - 16 years + - 1 hour 30 minutes

Date - Saturday, 7th January 2023

Time - 7 PM

Venue - Experimental Theatre, NCPA

Tickets - Available here

Synopsis: With four full house shows, Comedy for Comedy's Sake is back with another stellar lineup. The show is produced by Comedy Ladder in association with the NCPA.

Performers: Shreeja Chaturvedi, Jeeya Sethi, Gursimran Khamba, Sahil Shah, Shamik Chakrabarti & Siddharth Dudeja

Mandi

The Indian Express Film Club screening in association with NCPA

Film Screening - Hindi - 12 years + ; 178 minutes

Date - Tuesday, 10th January 2023

Time - 6:30 PM

Venue - Godrej Dance Theatre, NCPA

Tickets - Free Entry, on a first come first serve basis

Synopsis: Shabana Azmi plays Rukmini, the madam of a bordello. The most talented among Rukmini's girls is Zeenat (Smita Patil), the illegitimate daughter of a famous singer, and Rukmini is determined to turn her into a great concert performer.

Director: Shyam Benegal

Producers: Lalit M. Bijlan & Freni Variava

Cast: Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil & others

Please Note: The film screening will be followed by a discussion with Shubhra Gupta, Film Critic (The Indian Express).

Short Film Corner

Short Film Screening

An NCPA Presentation in collaboration with White Wall Screenings?

Short films - Hindi, Marathi, Tamil with English Subtitles - 6 years + ; 1 hour

Date - Wednesday, 11th January 2023

Time - 6:30 PM

Venue - Little Theatre, NCPA

Tickets - Free Entry, on a first come first serve basis

Synopsis: iTALES - 5 Filmmakers - 5 Films - 5 Minutes

This is an Anthology of five short films by Indian women filmmakers. All the films have been entirely shot on iPhone with one month production time after the 'Art of filmmaking' workshop conducted over zoom for 6 weekends (50 hours). 29 women participated in this workshop. This workshop was mentored by Mohsen Makhmalbaf and AR Rahman Foundation. These five films were chosen as the top five out of all the submissions from that batch.

Jo Dooba So Paar

An NCPA Presentation in collaboration with aRANYA Production

Drama - English, Urdu, Persian - 6 years + ; 1 hour 40 minutes

Date - Sunday, 15th January 2023

Time - 4:30 PM & 7:00 PM

Venue - Experimental Theatre, NCPA

Tickets - Available here

Synopsis: A musical daastaangoi on the life and times of Amir Khusrau. Jo Dooba So Paar throws light on the human that Khusrau was, his relationship with his guru Nizamuddin Auliya and the advent of qawwali through them. The interesting anecdotes and tales woven in a daastaan accompanied with live qawwali singing give insight into the essence of Sufism and the importance of the eternally relevant message of love among humankind.

Produced by Manav Kaul

Writer: Ajitesh Gupta

Music: Mohit Agarwal

Directors: Ajitesh Gupta & Mohit Agarwal

Harmonium: Mohit Agarwal & Ashish Mishra

Performers: Rattan Deep, Ashish Mishra, Jitendra Singh Rajput, Shalaka Redkar, Manasi Bhawalkar, Sonakshi Singh, Shimli Basu, Rigved Singh Maurya, Mohit Agarwal & Ajitesh Gupta

Dholak: Mrunmay Chavan

Tabla: Naynesh Pimpale

Production: Sumit Chandel & Kamran Khan

Chhayaankan - The Management of Shadows

Reality Check - Documentary Film Screening

An NCPA Presentation in collaboration with Cinema Collective

Documentary - English, Hindi - 6 years + ; 1 hour 38 minutes

Date - Thursday, 19th January 2023

Time - 6:30 PM

Venue - Little Theatre, NCPA

Tickets - Free Entry, on a first come first serve basis

Synopsis: This documentary looks at the lives and creative journeys of 14 senior cinematographers from the Mumbai film industry, who were active mainly between 1962-2012.

Cinematographers are the most easily forgotten and neglected film crew members, very few have been celebrated for their passion and commitment, and very few people are even aware of the trials and tribulations they go through.

As an ex-cinematographer myself, this film is an insider's view of the profession, and it touches on a variety of subjects. From ethics and aesthetics, techniques and technology, teamwork, and inspirations, interspersed with some of their personal anecdotes, to show us in a lighter vein. Oddly, this is the first and only film ever made in India on this subject, and it is a great pity that so many people have lapsed into history and fading memory. At least these 14 individuals will survive the test of time and remain visible forever in this film, along with all the stalwarts they mention during the conversations. And maybe subsequent generations will gain some valuable insights into their own lives.

Produced & directed by Hemant Chaturvedi

Please Note: The film screenings will be followed by a post-film discussion.

Connections

This will be a 4 day festival with 8 new plays from 8 different schools. Each performance will be for 60 minutes.

Venue - Jamshed Bhabha Theatre Box, NCPA

Time - 5 PM Onwards

Tickets - Free Entry, on a first come first serve basis

JANUARY 19TH

SALT (in Hindi)Written by Dawn King

Directed by Aakash Prabhakar

Performed by Aseema

Synopsis: Life is never plain sailing, but when a new government initiative comes into place offering young people the chance to train and learn skills overseas, droves of teens jump at the chance to secure their future. Once on board the transport ship, the promises of the glossy advert seem a far cry from what lies ahead. A play about generations, choices and hope.

MOBILE PHONE SHOW

Written by Jim Cartwright

Directed by Trishla Patel

Performed by Bombay International School

Synopsis: A communication cacophony, a fully charged up chorus line of chaos in a rhapsody of rap, text, tweet and gabble. A fantastic celebration of all things mobile phone. A unique interactive theatrical experience where only two things count - your phone is on and you have signal! Funny, moving and at times poignant Mobile Phone Show looks at the importance of the phone in the 21st Century and how we use it to stay connected, explore the world and store our lives.

JANUARY 20TH

terra/earth

Written by Nell Leyshon

Directed by Rachel D'souza

Choreographed by Dipna Daryanani

Performed by Angel Xpress

Synopsis: A group of classmates is torn apart by the opportunity to perform their own dance. As they disagree and bicker, two distinct physical groups emerge and separate into opposing teams. When a strange outsider appears - out of step with everyone else - the divide is disrupted. A contemporary narrative dance piece about individuality, community and heritage.

CRUSADERS

Written by Frances Poet

Directed by Gurleen Judge

Performed by Oberoi International School

Synopsis: A group of teens gather to take their French exam but none of them will step into the exam hall. Because Kyle has had a vision and he'll use anything, even miracles, to ensure his classmates accompany him. Together they have just seven days to save themselves, save the world and be the future. And Kyle is not the only one who has had the dream. All across the globe, from Azerbaijan to Zambia, children are dreaming and urging their peers to follow them to the promised land. Who will follow? Who will lead? Who will make it?

JANUARY 21st

The IT

Written by Viv Franzmann

Directed by Sheena Khalid

Performed by Cathedral and John Connon School

Synopsis: The IT is a play about a teenage girl who has something growing inside her. She doesn't know what it is, but she knows it's not a baby. It expands in her body. It starts in her stomach, but quickly outgrows that, until eventually it takes over the entirety of her insides. It has claws. She feels them. Does it have teeth, skin, and hair as well, or is that feathers, or spikes she can feel, butting up against her organs? What is it? It makes a noise, like a lizard or a snake. No one must know about it. She has to keep its presence, its possession of her, concealed. She pulls away from her friends. She refuses to speak in case The It is heard. Then the It tries to escape from her body. She can't let that happen. She cuts an isolated weird figure at school, trying to live her life 'normally; but battling to keep The It inside of her. But she can't contain it forever, sooner or later something's got to give... Presented in the style of a direct to camera documentary, this is a darkly comic state of the nation play exploring adolescent mental health and the rage within, written very specifically for today.

TUESDAY

Written by Alison Carr

Directed by Vishal Handa

Performed by Institute of Classical and Modern Dance (ICMD)

Synopsis: Tuesday is light, playful and nuanced in tone. And a little bit sci-fi.

The play centres on an ordinary Tuesday that suddenly turns very weird indeed when a tear rips across the sky over the school yard. Not only that, but it starts sucking up pupils and staff while at the same time raining down a whole new set of people. But then, that's what happens when parallel worlds collide! Confusion reigns as the 'Us' and 'Them' try to work out what is going on. How are Ash and Magpie identical? Can Billy cope with having his sister back? Who is Franky? Eventually, though, cracks appear between the two groups. As the air here starts to disagree with the 'Them', the race is on to try to get things back to how they were and safely return everyone to the Universe they came from. The play touches on themes of friendship, sibling love, family, identity, grief, bullying, loneliness and responsibility. And in the process we might just learn something about ourselves as well as some astronomical theories of the multiverse!

JANUARY 22ND

REMOTE

Written by Stef Smith

Directed by Amey Mehta

Performed by Aditya Birla World Academy

A girl called Antler steps out of her front door and throws her phone on the ground. She stamps on it. She then climbs the tallest tree in the park. She doesn't want to be found, not by anyone. Seven teenagers' lives all intertwine over the course of a single evening as they make their way through the park on a seemingly normal autumn's night. Remote is a play about protest, power and protecting yourself.

PURVAIYYA (The Sweetness of a Sting)

Written by Chinoyerem Odimba

Adapted & Directed by Sapan Saran

Performed by Teach For India

About: Purvaiyya is adapted from Chinonyerem Odimba's play The Sweetness of a Sting. She was inspired by the fables of West African storytelling, using nature to tell human stories.

Synopsis: Bani's parents decide they want to return to their home in Bihar, so she is confronted with the possibility of leaving everything she knows and becoming a visitor in a strange world. Attempting to run away and escape her parents' plans, Bani finds herself in a world full of insects, stories and Thunder - a land beneath our feet that she cannot escape from. This fantastical story looks at what it means to be young - disconnected from nature, and from your identity.

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