Now catch 3 Idiots on the stage

The novel Five Point Someone was a hit and the movie 3 Idiots based on it was an even bigger hit. In an unusual national theatre tour of sorts, Bangalore-based company Evam brings Chetan Bhagat’s best-seller to Delhi on stage, writes Malvika Nanda.

The novel Five Point Someone was a hit and the movie 3 Idiots based on it was an even bigger hit. In an unusual national theatre tour of sorts, Bangalore-based company Evam brings Chetan Bhagat’s best-seller to Delhi on stage. The production comes here after playing to full houses in Bangalore, Chennai, Nagpur and Pune. It has sold almost 25,000 tickets in less than 75 days.

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The cast of amateur actors from Bangalore is directed by Sunil Vishnu K, co-founder, Evam. The play debuted at IIT Chennai’s popular fest Sarang in January 2010. Despite all the hype and controversies that surrounded the book’s adaptation in 3 Idiots the cast of the play decided to keep away from watching the movie. Vishnu says they only managed to finally catch a show some 12 days back. “We didn’t want to see the movie to colour the course that we had charted out for ourselves. And then we just got too busy touring so could never find the time,” he says.

Vishnu found the movie interesting but says “it’s not true to the book. It was more about Aamir (Khan).” But did they feel the pressure of expectation after its Bollywood success?

Vishnu says theatre is a very different ball game. “We thought of adapting the book for a specific reason and we vibed well with the author Chetan Bhagat. We have been trying to do with our plays what he’s trying to do with books for the young generation.” That is: “He wants to get the youth to read and we want to get the youth to watch more theatre.”