Shatarupa Bhattacharya had read herself Media, Greek mythological character, when she first read about the magician several years ago. Bangalore-based theater artist and social scientist explains, “I have been practicing theater for 14-15 years, and in the middle of my theater journey, I realized that I wanted to play with only strong female characters … who talk about women’s journey.”
Media, Shatarupa says, she was interested because she (Media) empowered himself. “I was associated with the story, the character of the character and the emotional drama, but I also wanted to make it a simple version because Media has been done a lot. I wanted to keep that base in contemporary times.”
This is what Shatarupa has done Silvatin – Wrinkles in timeA Hindi drama he wrote and directed. Performed by Quisa Collective, it will be staged on August 17 as part of the third version of the theater biping at the Meda -stage, Koramangala. This will be the 14th performance of the play, which took a premiere in March 2024 in Bengaluru and has traveled to Jaipur, Alwar and Kolkata since its beginning.
Although it was originally written in English, this play was translated into Hindi by Puneet Gupta because due to reference and a very Indian story, Shatarupa explains. She says, “I wanted its authenticity to come out and I was not getting in English.” “Hindi made it condensed; English was making it dialogue-oriented.”
SilvatinWhich tells the story of an encounter between two -sighted strangers, Rupali Chaudhary and Arijit Mallik, called “a corpse of inconsistency”, says Shutarupa. “As a playwright and director, my aim was not to sensational a breakup drama. I wanted what happens after the end of the relationship was, and when people resume and interpret the past when people resume the past.”
The form of drama is unclear, in which two people remember their relationship differently on stage, which gives the audience a question of whose truth they are looking at. In addition, Shatarupa has tried to structure the play how human memory works. “This is not a direct chronology; the story is fragmented, such as how memory works. We do not miss things in a linear fashion.”
This drama also comes from an individual place, says Shatarupa. “One of the main elements in this drama is everyday feminism, which I have seen in my family.”
Her early understanding of feminism came from her mother, grandmother and aunt, “Before I read Simone de Bear or any other feminist scholar.” According to him, such feminism is not about slogans and grand speeches. “It is very worldly, almost invisible microdynamics in a relationship.”
Director Satarupa Bhattacharya | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
For example, one of the protagonists in the play played by Ujani Ghosh, Rupali, for example, denies to define the previous relationships, just because a man emphasizes, says Shatarupa.
Ujani, who sees Rupali as a woman, takes herself with a calm power, “someone who stoirs outwards, but constantly navigates the undercontinent of memory, which is there.
On the other hand, Arijit’s character played by Saganik Sinha appears to be for more colors of gray for him. “This is easy for someone like me, when I am playing Arijit, to see him as a bad person,” says Saganik. But, over time, he realized that “every person is appropriate in his own truth. It was for me to separate that decision and behave the character like a normal person.”
Drama, Shatarupa says, does not bother men. “The male character that plays the same is human and faulty. Many times, after the drama ends, the members of the audience come to me and say that they are sympathetic with this character.”
Showing the perspective of the man, Shatarupa says, the play is trying to make the audience uncomfortable in a productive manner. “The issue is not to punish male characters, but rather to explain how two people can still live in completely different versions of the same reality.”
Silvatein – Wrinkles in time will be staged on August 17 after Medai Manch, Koramangala, 3.30 pm. Ticket, price 350, are available on Bookmyshow
Published – August 12, 2025 05:05 pm IST
