Actor Aahana Kumra on podcast debut: Wanted to do a podcast on theatre, my first love; Naseeruddin Shah first guest
Aahana Kumra's show will have actors Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Makarand Deshpande, Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Suchitra Pillai and Pratik Gandhi
Actor Aahana Kumra is coming up with her first podcast that is dedicated to her “first love — theatre”. Excited about the new feat, titled Curtain Call with Aahana Kumra, she says it will see her have deep conversations about theatre with popular personalities.
“We will be opening the podcast with Naseeruddin Shah (actor) sir and Ratna Pathak Shah (actor) ma’am, followed by Makarand (Deshpande, actor-director). We also have (actors) Rajat Kapoor and Vinay Pathak, Suchitra Pillai and Joy Sengupta, Prateek Gandhi and his wife Bhamini Oza and Amol Parashar and Priyanshu Painyuli among others. We have already shot six episodes,” she says.
Talking about the format of the show, Aahana adds, “We have kept a jodi format — for real-life and on-stage theatre duos. The conversation will primarily be around theatre. We need to celebrate the format, as it engages a lot of people and there needs to be more talk about it. We have also decided to do seasons for the podcast.”
The Lipstick Under My Burkha (2017) and Khuda Haafiz (2020) actor goes on to add, “For cinema, we already have countless shows and podcasts, but for theatre, which is a part of our culture and is done in all parts of our country, we can count the shows on our fingertips. I feel proud when someone calls me a theatre person, as I have been acting on stage since the last 25 years and have done more than 500 shows till now.”
Aahana has done multiple shows of actor-director Makarand Deshpande’s play Sir Sir Sarla, and was recently seen in a play, Constellations, with actor Kunaal Roy Kapoor.
She adds, “I’m enjoying this phase, where I am acting on stage, looking for work, while also turning into an entrepreneur and working on projects for my production house. There is so much to explore.”
The actor was recently on her visit to hometown Lucknow