Making (air) waves

A rehearsal in progress

While in Edinburgh for the showcase of her play, Elephant in the Room, last August, Yuki Ellias had already started thinking about her next project. It had to have women in the lead, and it had to be in Hindi, she was sure. From finding inspiration in the picturesque landscape of Scotland to research that took her to community radio stations of Mewat in Haryana, the following months were spent working towards these objectives. A year later, Ellias is ready with Hello Farmaaish, set in 2003 in a fictitious village in the Aravallis, where the news of Kalpana Chawla going to space creates a stir among the women.

"Someone from our team routed me to an article on women-run community radio stations in Haryana, which isn't associated with women speaking much on the microphone. We connected with Radio Mewat and Alfaz-e-Mewat, which became instrumental in our research. Serendipitously, we realised that Kalpana Chawla also hails from Haryana. And that's how the idea of women on radio in a village obsessed with space was born," she tell us on her way to a day-long rehearsal. The story, written by Ellias and Sneh Sapru, emerged from days spent at the stations meeting women, understanding the role the medium plays in their lives and how they create broadcasts relevant to them. The story has been adapted to a Hindi script by Vidit Tripathi.

Yuki Ellias

"You will find broadcasts on women's health and recipes for halwa, but there is also a poetic show that airs in a village in West Bengal that explores the wonders of waiting. All this fed into our research," Ellias reveals.

The story is also one of ingenuity, where the makeshift station is run by a man who makes his own transistors, and fills fellow village men in on lassi-drinking competitions and cock fights - things that women can't be a part of. Until they take over the station, that is, filled with questions for the astronaut and about space. "The play is about exploring their own kalpana," shares Ellias.

The highlight of the play, she emphasises, is whether in Mumbai or in Mewat, women can have the same story and the power to change it. "It is not for us to say what journey other people should embark on," she says. "These women are as heroic as Kalpana Chawla, for they are imagining a new space for themselves and defining it."

On: August 18, 7.30 pm; August 19, 4 pm and 7.30 pm
At: Royal Opera House.
Log on to: bookmyshow.com
Entry: Rs 300 onwards

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also, download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates