One rehearsal day, I thought it was going to be a rainy day, but it wasn't. A clear sunshine day at Nehru Centre, Mumbai. I find myself in Mumbai, watching the rehearsal of this magnum opus created by Delhi based theatre company Felicity Theatre: HUMARE RAM. The script of the play is developed and written by in-house writers at the theatre company.
Director of Felicity Theatre Rahul Buchhar has pulled off a stunning casting of actors Harleen Kaur Rekhi, Ashutosh Rana, Rahul Buchhar, Tarun Khanna, Danish Akhtar, Karan Sharma and directed by Gaurav Bhardwaj. A diverse team from the world of theatre, Bollywood, ad films and television to give this script a unique form on stage. There are 50 plus dancers auditioned and picked by Felicity Theatre in Mumbai, to do the veer-ras dance routine in magnum-opus production of Felicity Theatre's HUMARE RAM. I catch Rahul doing a recce for the show at Nehru Centre as we find a corner to start our interview, much earlier than our scheduled time.
RAD TIMES: Thank you, Rahul. Felicity Theatre is doing lots of production pan-India. Your cast has new, debut, and established actors and names. Can you tell RAD TIMES, Publishing Theatre Stories how do you find so much energy. You are an entrepreneur, builder, actor and you pull the whole team together. You have 100 working individuals in your production HUMARE RAM team. How do you find so much energy?
Rahul Buchhar: When a person is passionate about anything, you don't feel tired Team RAD TIMES. You have energy burning inside you always, forever. And the fact that you want to do something, you want to become something: prove something, showcase something. It can be an act-portrayal or historical portrayal; I think when you have passion in you, I think you come by, empower, grow build peace, grow in your presence.
Q2) How does Felicity Theatre choose scripts?
Rahul Buchhar: We don't take tried-and-tested scripts or pick up scripts from anywhere which may be popular or not. We love to research well. We have our own writers; we have commissioned writers at Felicity Theatre. We write our own scripts. So, it's not about choosing anything. We are no divine entities that we can choose something, or in a position to candy-pick and choose. We write it, depending on the situation and social requirement in that time of social, political, economic, ethical and emotional environment.
Q3) Could you tell us about your journey of creating this beautiful character of Lord Ram. You have also played this character in Ramlila's in Ayodhya? Could you tell RAD TIMES something about that too?
Rahul Buchhar: It's a beautiful character.
( अगर आप प्रभु का किरदार निभा रहे हो,
तो प्रभुको आपको खुद सिलेक्ट करना होगा ).
You don't stand up one day and just start reciting the lines, that you want to portray this character, whatever this character is. You have to have some qualities, some devotion, some knowledge about the character and journey inside you. Either you have it, or you don't. Period. There is no second thought about it.
And in 2020 we started Ayodhya Ki Ramlila.
I never imagined I could play Lord Rama on stage. A producer friend Mr. Bobby Mallick, he saw something in me during this Ramlila. And he came to my house, and he said, I want you to play the character of Ram on stage. I told him, I have done negative characters, I have done positive characters, but I have never played Lord Ram on stage.
Infact, I have done Lord Shiva also. In another play Mahabharat, that we used to do in 2014-2016-2017. I felt that time that kind of grace, that kind of humility or that kind of stability, ( थायरव) I don't have in my nature. But he was persistent, and he said, आप करिये. And lots of speculation took place and it continued.
Last year also we did Ayodhya Ki Ramlila. This year on 22nd January we did the Ramlila, and the Ram Temple was inaugurated by Modiji. People saw it on Doordarshan and all over the world. We had viewership of 36 Crore. In the first year it was 16 crore and next year it was 27 crores. With God's grace and then I thought of creating something like, HUMARE RAM, which is going to be my own inhouse production at Felicity theatre.
Q4.) We have seen Ramanand Sagars "Ramayana" on Doordarshan, how do you see this play impacting the Indian stage and screen maybe?
Rahul Buchhar: People are loving it and when we started, I did not know we would receive so much of love and affection and accept it. A production I made, conceptualized and showcased! We have had packed houses, and this play is travelling by word of mouth, and it has become an overnight success. In two months, this is our 41st show at Nehru Centre, Mumbai and such a huge production. You have seen the kind tech we have there are some 270 lights, 10,500 square feet of LED, P3; it's backstage is as magnanimous!
Till God's grace is there on this play, and Raavan (Ashutosh Ranaji ) is spectacular. People come to watch him, and are attracted by him, because he is a superstar actor. People see the production, see the script, and see other actors also, they are absolutely mesmerized. There are no two things about it. They would love it.
( तो, मर्यादा से बानी है, श्रद्धा से बनी है, और भक्ति से बनी है)
It will stand the test of time. The song and music are done by legendary singers like: Shankar Mahadevan, Kailash Kher ( Dashanand song) and Sonu Nigam (Ramlila song) and Ashutosh Ranaji himself has done the Shiv Tandav song (which was released on Shiv Ratri last year.) It's an experience.
Q5) How do you see this production going outside India and how do you see larger productions coming out of Indian theatre eco-system?
Rahul Buchhar: I would say if this play travels abroad it will be a worldwide hit. It is an India superhit. And we are planning to take it to U.S, U.K, Indonesia and Singapore. That is the plan for 2025.
In 2024 we want to create a buzz in the country, so that next year, relatives of people here would pick it up like their own.
Answer to the other question: We want to make plays like Broadway, we want to make larger than life plays but what we forget is a good narrative, we forget emotion, what we forget is audience connect with the actors. We just can't make a grandeur, we have to make a grandeur keeping all these things in mind, it should connect with the audience, the emotional connect should be prevalent and, and off-course the script. So, any play, make a larger-than-life play but it has seven to eight verticals attached to it. So, this production has all the connect that is why it is phenomenal. So, putting all the verticals together and when you have all 6-7 verticals (ten on ten) you make a magnum opus- called HUMARE RAM.
(Background score of the play goes on)
Q 6) It's a huge production, how many people do you have backstage?
Rahul Buchhar: 116 in total and they travel all along from Delhi including the sets.
Q 7) Any memorable moments from this play you would like to share?
Rahul Buchhar: Lots and lots of them.
RAD TIMES: Let's catch up for this on another chat. Thank you so much for speaking with RAD TIMES. Rahul Buchhar: Pleasure is all mine, thank you so much!
About Rahul Bhuchar:
Rahul Bhuchar is an unconventional entrepreneur, spectacular actor and Founder & President of Felicity Theatre Charitable Organization. A theatre actor who has acted in more than 725 theatre shows and also has a Bollywood film to his credit named ‘MOM’ starring Sri Devi. Many of his theatre plays have been invited in prestigious venues like the Parliament House and theatre festivals of National magnitude like Bharangham organized by National School of Drama, Bharatendu Natya Utsav, 75 Azadi ka Amrit mahotsav, Hunar Haat.
He has transformed the Indian theatre scene and taken it to a different level altogether. He has successfully contributed towards theatre which has been achieving accolades and rounds all over the country astonishing the audience with his outstanding performance in popular plays like : Mahabharata the epic tale – written and directed by Puneet Issar Ayodhya ki Ramlila Chakravuyh – Written and Directed by Atul Satya Koushik, Wrong Number – Written and Directed by Raman Kumar, Jab We Separated – Written and Directed by Rakesh Bedi and many more.
Professional life:
Rahul Bhuchar, Founder and President of Felicity Theatre Charitable organization which is an NGO working for the betterment of theatre & Actors/ Directors. It has contributed immensely towards the upliftment of theatre over the past few years. He also runs a charitable acting school with NSD graduates as the faculty who teach the nuances to the privileged and underprivileged. His vision is to take this form of entertainment and make it par with Indian cinema. He has played various characters on stage, the most accoladed once are the role of Lord Rama in Ayodhya ki Ramleela on Indian National TV channel i.e Doordarshan. His performances in leading plays such as Draupadi, Chakravuyh, Lahore O Lahore, Couple Trouble, Wrong Number, Jab We Separated &; Indias most popular mythological magnum opus Mahabharata
has earned him many accolades in various parts of India. He has also produced top class plays which are different from each other in terms of content as well as treatment such as ‘Ovee’ featuring Rohit Roy and Sayantani Ghosh, ‘Patte Khul Gaye’ featuring Rupali Ganguly, Anant Mahadevan, Avijit Dutt, Kishwer Merchant and Rakesh Bedi, ‘Ab tera kya hoga walia’ featuring
Tiku Talsania, &;Selfie’ Featuring Tannaz Irani , ‘Hello zindagi’ featuring Maruti Guddi, Minisha Lamba and Delnaaz Irani. His work in the Boney Kapoor Production “MOM” has given him critical acclaim and appreciation from audiences across India. His contributions have received recognition from across the country including Dada Sahib Phalke Award, Bharat Global Icon Award, Rashtriya kala Ratan Award 2021, National Icon Award 2021, Time group Entrepreneur of the Year.
He has worked with many renowned Bollywood and TV artists like Avtar Gill, Puneet Issar, Gufi Paintal, Rakesh Bedi, Shweta Tiwari, Himani Shivpuri, Kashmira Shah,Nitish Bharadwaj , Guddi Maruti , Delnaaz irani , Minisha Lamba , Rohit Roy, Kishwer Merchant, Rupali Ganguly, Sayantani
Ghosh,Surender Pal, Danish Akhtar , Meghna Malik, Urvashi Dholakia, Rajesh Puri , Anant Mahadevan, Avijit Dutt and many more. Apart from theatre, He is an entrepreneur running his family business which he took over at a very young age and ensures that business is not affected by his passion for theatre.
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