Look at history from Kasturba's angle

Rohini Hattangadi and son Aseem star in a play that was written for her late husband Jayadev. It premiers this weekend on the stalwart's first death anniversary

On December 5, 2008, Indian theatre lost one of it's most respected and loved representatives, Jayadev Hattangadi. Even as theatrewallas mourn his death, Awishkar, the theatre group with which he shared a special relation, is keeping his legacy alive. The play, Jagdamba that was specially written for the late director by noted Marathi scholar Ramdas Bhatkal, will premiere today on Hattangadi's first death anniversary.



"Jayadev was like family to us. We wanted to remember him, and Jagdamba wasu00a0 written for him and Rohini. He is not here but Rohini has agreed to act. We couldn't have thought of a better tribute," says Arun Kakade, the sutradhar of Awishkar. It was under Awishkar that Jayadev and Rohini made their first critically acclaimed play, Changuna.

With Jagdamba, Rohini returns to the character she is most famous for u2013 Kasturba. The play follows the journey of the young Kastur from a remote village, to being Kasturba, the father of the nation's wife. It derives its title from the fact that Gandhi used to call her Jagdamba. "In the play, Kasturba presents her viewpoint on various aspects of Gandhi's life, and how she came to terms with them or opposed them," says the veteran. It was her role in Sir Richard Attenborough's Gandhi that got Rohini interested in Kasturba's life. "When I worked in Gandhi, what I realised was that Kasturba never dragged behind Gandhi, she walked with him. I was intrigued by what made her do that. She was not educated, but at the end, she was 'baa', a mother to everybody," says Rohini.u00a0
On: Today and tomorrow, 7 pm at Sathaye College, Dixit Road, Vile Parle (E).
Call: 26141149. donation passes: Rs 100 (available an hour before the shows)