Incest is something that every one is aware of but wants to keep under wraps. So when Sohaila Kapur decided to hold a workshop in dramatic reading of two German plays on the subject, quite predictably many of the participants did not turn up after the first day. But those who did, did so out of conviction and that helped Kapur in her determination to present a dramatic reading of the same. “Mum’s The Word, Dad is an observation of relationships outside the norm,” says Kapur, of the dramatic reading being presented at the India Habitat Centre today by Just Imagine Productions.
“It just started as an instinct because though the plays are set in Germany, they could as well pertain to India of the 21st century. We may admit it or not, but each child has been abused some way or the other, if not by the immediate family than by an elderly relative. Then I learnt that there were NGOs like the Rahi Foundation that were working with such people. That steeled my determination. Fortunately, an English translation of the plays was already available, though I have further adapted them. Personally, I am very excited about it because even though it is a failure, at least I have tried. A lot of deep thinking has gone into it and it will make people sit up and think.” The play is being supported by Rahi and Fund Art Productions.
However, Just Imagine Productions, the theatre company that she has formed with like-minded professionals, is only one part of Kapur’s persona. She has her finger in many pies, though all of them pertain to writing, her first love. She is halfway through a script for a musical that her brother Shekhar Kapur (of Elizabeth fame) will present at West End, she is in the middle of a biography on the Anand Brothers (Chetan, Dev and Vijay), who are her maternal uncles, and she has signed a contract with Penguin for a series on the warrior queens of India. And, of course, she wants to hold workshops in creative writing and theatre with kids – a beginning has been made at Sanawar, where her son Ameya is a student of class VII, and the Pink Elephant play school in Friends Colony. Sohaila Kapur, indeed, has a busy life ahead.
