Tribute to playwright Vijay Tendulkar

Zee Theatre’s forthcoming offering, Kahaani Mitra Ki is a powerful adaptation of Vijay Tendulkar’s path-breaking Marathi classic Mitrachi Goshta and will be screened on February 13. Director Akash Khurana says, “The growing relevance of its theme, the sensitivity of its characters and the complexity of its structure offered a challenge that I couldn’t resist. So, after three decades of my first tryst with Vijay Tendulkar, it was time to pay my homage to the ‘Master’ again. I have always held Tendulkar in very high esteem personally and considered him leagues ahead of most Indian playwrights.”

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The director adds, “Back in 1987, I directed Mat Yaad Dila, a Hindi adaptation of Tendulkar’s ‘Ashi Pakhare Yeti.’ It was the prolific theatre group Arpana’s first production and a huge success.” Mitrachi Goshta is often described as one of the first modern Indian plays dealing with same-sex relationships. Set in the pre-Independence era, it begins with what appears to be a conventional relationship between a boy and girl on a college campus. Soon however, a complicated love triangle develops between the diffident Bapu, the headstrong Mitra and Nama, her love interest.