Audio Drama
While not a project, per se, Bhasha Centre is deeply interested and invested in audio drama as a form and medium. The Indian milieu has not seen a concerted, structured attempt at the creation of content for audio drama, though the broader category of audio fiction is seeing a steady rise in authorship and listenership, thanks to platforms like Spotify and Audible.
As an initial endeavour, we intend to produce 12 pieces of audio drama across multiple Indian languages. Our long term goal is to create capacity in the Indian theatre ecosystem so that more people are inclined and able to participate in this relatively low-risk, low-cost, high-imagination process of world building and dramatic expression.
Read about our first two productions below.
Images from the recording of the Rocky Ka Insaaf and Some Whikey and Some Bob. The Jamun, October 2021.
Rocky Ka Insaaf
By Ashwini Kumar Chakre
Directed by Vivek Madan
Cast: Kafeel Jafri, Chanakya Vyas, Anshul Panicker, Anand Samudre, Ankita Jain, Shiva Pathak, Vishnu Narain, Phalguni Vittal Rao and Mohammed Lehry
Rocky is desperately in need of a permit to dig a hole in the ground. The law won't allow it without ridiculous amounts of paperwork. Written by Ashwini Kumar Chakre, Rocky Ka Insaaf is an examination of the price we pay for order in our society through the lens of an unlikely member of our cities.
Read about the playwright, actors and their experiences below.
"When I heard about this idea, I was very keen to write a draft of 'Rocky ka Insaaf' for the radio version. I am excited to see how the visual imagination of this text will come out when guided by sound, voice and music."
Ashwini Kumar Chakre, founder member, Mashaal (2007, Bangalore), is an avid theatre practitioner engaged in acting, directing, scripting and theatre pedagogy. Working in different capacities with Indian Ensemble, Head Start School, Maraa, his engagements range from public art performances, proscenium theatre to devising with children and directing a play for toddlers
Some Whiskey and Some Bob
Directed by Vivek Madan
Cast: Preetam Koilpillai, Soumya Rathi and Nikhil Angelo
Ayana accompanies a friend to meet a man in Bangalore who has met one of the greatest songwriters of all time. Throwing some Whiskey, some friendly insults and some Jab we Met anecdotes into the mix; the night goes into all kinds of places; some expected and others, well... You'll see.
Some Whiskey and Some Bob is a slice of life play, the first of four vignettes that make up Wide-Eyed Pomfrets, Deepika Arwind's explorations on the inherent awkwardness of relationships between young people and unrelated older people in Urban Bangalore.
Watch this space for the remaining slices, they're a plateful when you've heard them all.
Read about the playwright, actors and their experiences below.
"Being in the recording for Wide-Eyed Pomfrets was truly delightful. We don't have a big culture of radio plays in India, so this was both new and exciting. I've heard several radio plays, but haven't been on the set of one. To watch the care and precision with which it was recorded, made me want to be an actor on the production!"
Deepika Arwind is a playwright, theatre-maker and performer based out of Bangalore, India, who also works internationally. Her play Phantasmagoria, translated by Henning Bochert, is represented by Drei Masken Verlag in the German speaking parts of Europe. The play will also be at the Kali Theatre, UK, in 2022-2023.
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