Kachra takes to the stage

Like all video games, GTA Swachh City has villains—King Kachra, Rani Gandagi, and their children Scrapper and Plastic Baba—which the titular characters Ahaan and Avni have to defeat. Pics/Shadab Khan

If seems like a small matter, but the cleanliness of a country represents its people and their personality," reflects theatre actor, director and scriptwriter Roshan Shetty. To echo this, his third play - GTA Swachh City - is about siblings absorbed into the virtual reality of a multi-levelled video game to first clean up their rooms, then their city and, finally, the world around them.

Like all video games, there are villains - King Kachra, Rani Gandagi, and their children Scrapper and Plastic Baba - which the titular characters Ahaan and Avni have to defeat. Given three lives, the story reveals their wins and loses against the creatures of filth in a comedic yet thought-provoking way. "Eventually, they are left with one life to face their nemesis - King Kachra," says Shetty, who has written and directed the play, "which is symbolic of our stark reality - we have only one life to save our planet."

Roshan Shetty

The inspiration came from his daily commute from Dombivli to Andheri, on which he witnessed littering on the train. "As a child, I'd been taught to hold onto plastic wrappers or any waste till I reached home to dispose them," he says, "It's a small and easy habit to save the environment. Similarly, in my neighbourhood, we're taught to segregate wet and dry waste from a young age to facilitate better disposal. Unfortunately, these things aren't always formally taught in schools." To that end, he hopes to take his play to educational institutions across the country as well as children's events.

WHAT: GTA Swachh City
WHEN: May 31 and June 1, 4PM
WHERE: Prithvi Theatre
PRICE: Rs 250