When I started out, it wasn’t a conscious decision to create only works about women. I had dabbled in theatre for a while but it was with Why Mee Savitribai that I first found my footing in this ethos. Savitribai Phule is one of the representative characters of India, you can say. The piece was first performed in 1989, in Pune and I continue to perform it, like this week at Bhopal. So, over the course of almost 2,500 shows, it’s almost as if the spirit of Savitribai has been guiding me and my understanding of issues that confront women. While touring with the Savitribai piece, I found myself linked into a new world of female activism and thinking. The fact is, women make for very interesting subjects. When I was curious about tamasha, I wrote my piece on a Lavani dancer. I spent several months with female sex workers and created two works. While researching Bayaa Daar Ughad, I chanced upon countless abhanga (devotional poems) by women. People talk about Tukaram and Dyaneshwar, and they are great. But our society’s lens is never focused on what women also achieved. I had the impulse to bring out these forgotten abhangas.

 

Read more at www.thehindu.com