For actor Chirag Vohra, it is a challenge to play the role of the father of the nation in the play Gandhi — The Musical
In 1999, Chirag Vohra played the part of Devdas Gandhi, the youngest son of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, in the Gujarati play Gandhi Ke Godse. More than 15 years later, the actor is attempting to play the father of the nation in the play Gandhi — The Musical.
Directed by Danesh R Khambata, the play is an attempt to portray the inner struggles of the Mahatma. With 22 dancers and 16 singers, this Broadway-style musical promises to be a treat for theatre lovers. While Abhishek Krishnan plays the younger Gandhi, Vohra who plays the elder Gandhi is a familiar face in Gujarati and Hindi theatre circles and this is his first major English play. Naturally, he is curious to see the audience reaction to this one.
“The director provided me with most of the inputs, including the tonal quality he expects from me. I read Satya Na Prayogo — Gandhiji’s autobiography translated in Gujarati and heard his available speeches to understand the way he spoke,” says Vohra.
Currently, he is part of the Gujarati thriller-horror play Adrashyam which has completed more than 90 shows in three months. But even for Vohra, who has been acting in professional Gujarati theatre for so many years, Gandhi — The Musical was a challenge in many aspects. “I have to show the inner struggles that Gandhi went through to reach the decisions he did,” he reveals. Although he has done a number of musicals in the past, including Master Phoolmani, Huto Ane Huti and Maro Piya Gayo Rangoon, Vohra is glad that he had no songs to sing in this one. “The technique required for singing western notes is very different and I have never attempted that. If I had to sing, it would have been a different ball-game altogether,” he smiles.
Primarily a theatre actor, Vohra has made an appearance in a number of Hindi films too, including Tere Bin Laden, Hey Baby, Billu, Mangal Pandey: The Rising and more recently, in Tere Bin Laden: Dead or Alive. The actor will next be seen in Ketan Mehta’s Toba Tek Singh, where he plays a jail inmate. “As an actor, one wants to reach out to maximum number of people and create an identity of one’s own and in this country, films are a way of doing that. But the process of theatre is unmatched and I’m happy to pursue my passion for acting on the stage,” he signs off.
Gandhi — The Musical will be staged from August 13 to 15 and 19 to 21 at Jamshed Bhabha Auditorium, NCPA
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