What's on in January at the NCPA in Mumbai

Its 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 topnotch theatre that amuses engages and inspiresWe 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 standup comedyComing up in JanuaryComedy for Comedys SakeAn NCPA OffStage Presentation In collaboration with Comedy LadderComedy English Hindi 16 years 1 hour 30 minutesDate Saturday 7th January 2023Time 7 PMVenue Experimental Theatre NCPATickets Available hereSynopsis With four full house shows Comedy for Comedys Sake is back with another stellar lineup The show is produced by Comedy Ladder in association with the NCPAPerformers Shreeja Chaturvedi Jeeya Sethi Gursimran Khamba Sahil Shah Shamik Chakrabarti amp Siddharth DudejaMandiThe Indian Express Film Club screening in association with NCPAFilm Screening Hindi 12 years 178 minutesDate Tuesday 10th January 2023Time 630 PMVenue Godrej Dance Theatre NCPATickets Free Entry on a first come first serve basisSynopsis Shabana Azmi plays Rukmini the madam of a bordello The most talented among Rukminis girls is Zeenat Smita Patil the illegitimate daughter of a famous singer and Rukmini is determined to turn her into a great concert performerDirector Shyam BenegalProducers Lalit M Bijlan amp Freni VariavaCast Shabana Azmi Smita Patil amp othersPlease Note The film screening will be followed by a discussion with Shubhra Gupta Film Critic The Indian ExpressShort Film CornerShort Film ScreeningAn NCPA Presentation in collaboration with White Wall ScreeningsShort films Hindi Marathi Tamil with English Subtitles 6 years 1 hourDate Wednesday 11th January 2023Time 630 PMVenue Little Theatre NCPATickets Free Entry on a first come first serve basisSynopsis iTALES 5 Filmmakers 5 Films 5 MinutesThis 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 batchJo Dooba So PaarAn NCPA Presentation in collaboration with aRANYA ProductionDrama English Urdu Persian 6 years 1 hour 40 minutesDate Sunday 15th January 2023Time 430 PM amp 700 PMVenue Experimental Theatre NCPATickets Available hereSynopsis 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 humankindProduced by Manav KaulWriter Ajitesh GuptaMusic Mohit AgarwalDirectors Ajitesh Gupta amp Mohit AgarwalHarmonium Mohit Agarwal amp Ashish MishraPerformers Rattan Deep Ashish Mishra Jitendra Singh Rajput Shalaka Redkar Manasi Bhawalkar Sonakshi Singh Shimli Basu Rigved Singh Maurya Mohit Agarwal amp Ajitesh GuptaDholak Mrunmay ChavanTabla Naynesh PimpaleProduction Sumit Chandel amp Kamran KhanChhayaankan The Management of ShadowsReality Check Documentary Film ScreeningAn NCPA Presentation in collaboration with Cinema CollectiveDocumentary English Hindi 6 years 1 hour 38 minutesDate Thursday 19th January 2023Time 630 PMVenue Little Theatre NCPATickets Free Entry on a first come first serve basisSynopsis This documentary looks at the lives and creative journeys of 14 senior cinematographers from the Mumbai film industry who were active mainly between 19622012Cinematographers 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 throughAs an excinematographer myself this film is an insiders 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 livesProduced amp directed by Hemant ChaturvediPlease Note The film screenings will be followed by a postfilm discussionConnectionsThis will be a 4 day festival with 8 new plays from 8 different schools Each performance will be for 60 minutesVenue Jamshed Bhabha Theatre Box NCPATime 5 PM OnwardsTickets Free Entry on a first come first serve basisJANUARY 19THSALT in HindiWritten by Dawn KingDirected by Aakash PrabhakarPerformed by AseemaSynopsis 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 hopeMOBILE PHONE SHOWWritten by Jim CartwrightDirected by Trishla PatelPerformed by Bombay International SchoolSynopsis 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 livesJANUARY 20THterraearthWritten by Nell LeyshonDirected by Rachel DsouzaChoreographed by Dipna DaryananiPerformed by Angel XpressSynopsis 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 heritageCRUSADERSWritten by Frances PoetDirected by Gurleen JudgePerformed by Oberoi International SchoolSynopsis 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 hell 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 itJANUARY 21stThe ITWritten by Viv FranzmannDirected by Sheena KhalidPerformed by Cathedral and John Connon SchoolSynopsis The IT is a play about a teenage girl who has something growing inside her She doesnt know what it is but she knows its 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 cant 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 cant contain it forever sooner or later somethings 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 todayTUESDAYWritten by Alison CarrDirected by Vishal HandaPerformed by Institute of Classical and Modern Dance ICMDSynopsis Tuesday is light playful and nuanced in tone And a little bit scifiThe 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 thats 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 multiverseJANUARY 22NDREMOTEWritten by Stef SmithDirected by Amey MehtaPerformed by Aditya Birla World AcademyA 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 doesnt 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 autumns night Remote is a play about protest power and protecting yourselfPURVAIYYA The Sweetness of a StingWritten by Chinoyerem OdimbaAdapted amp Directed by Sapan SaranPerformed by Teach For IndiaAbout Purvaiyya is adapted from Chinonyerem Odimbas play The Sweetness of a Sting She was inspired by the fables of West African storytelling using nature to tell human storiesSynopsis Banis 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 identityAlso ReadYearender 2022 Key drinking trends that dominated and shaped how Indians drinkThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever