Telly stars go musical on intl stage

For the first time, telly stars have been roped in to do a musical play thats traveling abroad to various places in November. Kanha o Kanha a musical dance drama,one if its kind has the names of many seasoned actors like Gufi Paintal, Rajesh Shringarpure , Neha Sharad and Ashok Bhantia associated with it. "I play Narad and Shakuni in the play and there is a good amount of devotional music and choreography thrown in and I'd say it looks extremely innovative." says Gufi paintal who is currently also working in Raaz for DD, plays a mahaguru fighting against evil.Interestingly Gufi Paintal has also penned all the lyrics for this musical. Rajesh Shringarpure plays Krishna and was seen in Sahib, Biwi aur Ghulam and currently is a part of Saarthi. "The two hour musical will have me playing the Krishna and will show the transition of my character from its birth running uptil Mahabharata. There is so much of warmth in the entire team and things are getting constructive with each rehearsal." chuckles Rajesh. "We have been toying around with the idea of having such a musical play for the past three years with the story revolving around the epic of Krishna and finally came up with this play. It is tough in the sense that its not easy to make a mythological where we cant play around with the aesthetics and the facts.Also the actors find it hard to block their dates for two months at a stretch," says Deepak Gatani, producer of Kanha o Kanha, matter of factly. "I play Yashoda and Gangdhari in the play. Its a beautiful concept and has shaped up differently because the makers saw it in a different light. I am really excited about it while I have maximum number of scenes with Krishna, "says Neha Sharad who is Padmashree Sharad Joshi's daughter and is currently concentrating on theatre only. The pretty lady was last seen in Tara , Gumraah and the new Mahabharata. Ashok Bhantia is the director cum actor in the play and the NSD product has worked in Shanti, Mahabharata, Chanakya, Discovery of India and currently seen in Sarrkkar. "The basic thought behind the play was to depict Krishna as a lover and as a warrior in a musical costume drama .I myself play Kansa and Duryodhana and we have 38 characters played by 16 actors in the play. Its an amazing script with the tale of Krishna being told in a different manner," says Ashok Bhantia articulately. Considering the show has been choreographed by Geeta Kapur and the heavy costumes have been designed by Mala Dey it will surely be worth a watch. The play is traveling to US, Canada and West Indies in November and will also hold a private screening in Mumbai soon. Lets hope more of such innovative plays are brought in for a change.