The second play of the seventh season of Aditya Birla Group Initiative’s theatre festival, Aadyam, is Purva Naresh’s poetically-named Chandni Raatein. Purva, who is a regular at Aadyam, has adapted the 1848, Fyodor Dostoevsky story, White Nights, to present what promises to be an extravaganza, with elaborate sets, music, choreographed movements, intense emotions et al. We interviewed the multi-faceted writer-director-actor-musician while she was busy rehearsing for this ambitious venture that is based on a story about two lonely souls in Petersburg, Russia.
Excerpts from the Interview:
Most of your earlier plays were written by you. What made you adapt a Dostoevsky story for your forthcoming play, Chandni Ratein?
When I began film school at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, the first film I saw was Luchino Visconti’s White Nights, based on Dostoevsky’s story; and it left a deep impact on me. I was in tears! Then, in 2023, when I visited St Petersburg on my birthday, it happened to be a white night when the sun doesn’t set till after 10pm, and the sky doesn’t get really dark even after that. It was like a moment of epiphany for me! I felt I had to explore Dostoevsky’s book; which I did. So, when Aadyam Theatre asked for pitches for its seventh season, White Nights, was the first thing that came to mind.
Why did this rather depressing story appeal to you?
I wouldn’t call it a depressing story, I would call it a deep and intimate story. White Nights is a timeless literary classic, a love story that appeals to every generation. Love means different things to different people. Sometimes sacrifice in love can seem like losing in love, but the story reminds us that love makes you more humane, kind and gentle.
We are narrating it with lots of music and lots of humour, while still retaining the integral melancholia of the story. Beautiful, evocative, Chandni Raatein will make you cry, laugh, tap, dance, sing, clap as you experience a large canvas of emotions.
Have you tweaked Dostoevsky’s story to set it in an Indian environment?
The story is set in an Indian bar in St. Petersburg, Russia, which is popular among Indian tourists. It's a fictional world where both Indians and Russians speak Hindi. Chandni Raatein is a robust musical with a soundscape, designed by Kaizad Gherda, that’s a fusion of East European and Indian music. We will have a live band on stage creating some magical moments.
Mantra & Girija Oak |
What was your brief to your set designer? Judging by Aadyam’s Instagram post, the sets look stunningly exotic!
It was very challenging for the set designer because the script moves very fast from one location to the other. I gave him some key words like melancholia, classic Russian architecture evocative of St Petersburg, emotions like love, and of spaces where couples meet so he could create appropriate moods and settings.
Can you tell us about the characters of your play?
The original story has 4 characters--Nastenka, her ex-lover, a man she meets and her grandmother. In Visconti’s film, there’s a sex worker and a few other characters that populate the screen. I’ve borrowed from the literary and screen versions.
Shimli Basu & Kaustav Sinha |
Who has done the adaptation? What were the guiding factors when doing so?
I have done the adaptation into Hindi. Though I didn’t want to interfere with the soul of the story, the world of the story, I also wanted to make it my own, to convey what I found in the story when I read it the first time. Also, I am telling it with music and song. So the adaptation was a tight rope balance.
Anything else that you would like to highlight about your play?
At least 11 screen directors have adapted this story. From Visconti’s film starring Marcello Mastroianni, my favourite actor, to Bresson’s French film, set in Paris, and many others from the UK, US and of course Russia, have made films based on this novella. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya was also based on it. But I haven’t come across any stage version of it. So when I was in St Petersburg and I picked up the book again, I felt I could try it on stage. The amazing perspective on love, its different dimensions enchanted me and after talking to my poet-father, Naresh Saxena, I was convinced the story could be adapted beautifully for the stage. I hope the audience will identify with the emotions and enjoy my version of Dostoevsky’s story.
(Chandni Raatein will be performed at Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir, Mumbai, on February 1st and 2nd, 2025 and in Delhi, at Kamani Auditorium on March 1st and 2nd, 2025)
