After tasting success in Singapore, Dastak — an annual theatre and film festival from the Republic — is set to make its debut in India. Founded by thespian Shalaka Ranadive in 2016, Dastak has already staged six successful editions in Singapore before entering India. The inaugural Indian edition will take place from November 22 to 24 at Alembic City Art District in Vadodara, Gujarat.
The three-day festival will present five curated plays, each of 20 minutes’ duration, short films from Singapore and India and filmmaking workshops, among other activities. The upcoming edition is conceptualised and executed by WeCanDoIt — A Singapore-based theatre company, set up in 2009 by Shalaka — and Vadodara-based Page to Stage and 3 Peepul Productions. Founded in October 2013 by Suchitra Parikh and Neena Arora, Page to Stage is a theatre company. 3 Peepul Productions is a film production company set up in February 2021 by Arora, Parikh, and Priya Krishnaswamy.
Ahead of the festival, Connected to India’s Himanshu Verma caught up with Shalaka and four performers/contributors: Aditya Mazumdar, Veena Puthran Bangera, Swayam (Utsav) Gadhavi and Kanupriya Shankar Pandit for an exclusive on-cam chat.
Talking about Dastak’s entry into India, Shalaka says she’s hoping to make an impact. “With my entry into India, I’m hoping that the brand stays here, and it makes an impact, and I carry the good work which I’ve done in Singapore. I’m hoping more people participate, come to watch and benefit from Dastak, which has always been my goal and vision,” she says.
Swayam, who will be directing and acting in 2+2, a two-actor play written by Gopal Datt, says he wasn’t aware of the magnitude of the festival, but was taken aback. “When I started, I didn’t know how big this was. I went to Ahmedabad and rehearsed there with my co-actor and then came back to my hometown and that’s when I started seeing the posts online and had a discussion with my co-actor. I said, ‘this is a big theatre festival’.”
Swayam says while it started slow, Dastak is garnering quite the buzz among theatre lovers in the Indian city. Sharing her thoughts on the slow start, Shalaka says she didn’t market Dastak as a big festival as she wanted the artistes to be at ease and showcase their work.
Kanupriya, who will be directing Ek Thi Janki, adapted from a story written by her mother and prominent author Usha Kiran Khan, says she was fascinated by the work done by Dastak in Singapore and wanted to collaborate for a long time. Kanupriya, who runs Killol Kala Foundation in Mumbai, says she narrated four lines from her play, which addresses issues that are relevant to women today and received an instant nod from Shalaka, marking the former’s Dastak debut.
Asked about her take on the selection of Nirjhari — an award-winning short film based on the namesake stage production — for the inaugural edition of Dastak in India, Veena says she’s feeling “lucky” and “happy”. “When Shalaka told me that they’re screening Nirjhari in Vadodara, I was like ‘wow! good, nice’.”
Aditya, whose Malayalam film Neelambari will be screened at the festival, says, “It’s great to see Dastak travelling and launching in India.” Aditya, who directed and edited the film, is a Bengali by birth. Asked about experiences of working in a different language, he says he has been a fan of Malayalam cinema directors and speaks a little bit of the southern Indian language, which helped him during the making of the award-winning short film.
“We really hope you enjoy this simple story presentation of Neelambari,” he tells the Dastak audience.
Elaborating on the festival, Shalaka calls it the biggest from Dastak yet. While it started as a drama festival, Dastak 2024 expanded its horizon by adding short films to its roster. “I think it would work and I’m hoping it would work,” she says.
“India looks so welcoming at the moment and I’m excited. Let’s see where it takes me,” Shalaka says.
