Breaking new grounds

Shweta Tiwari portrayed 13 characters in a solo performance in Saif Hyder Hasan’s new play Aaine Ke Sau Tukde.

An actor playing diverse characters in one film has entertained and enthralled audiences. Whether it was the late Sanjeev Kumar enacting nine personalities in Naya Din Nayi Raat (1974) or Priyanka Chopra entertaining us with her histrionics as 12 different girls in Ashutosh Gowariker’s What’s Your Rashee (2009), such films have given actors an opportunity to showcase their acting prowess. Fresh from the success of Bigg Boss 4, television actress Shweta Tiwari recently took up such a challenge and portrayed 13 characters of both genders in a solo performance in Saif Hyder Hasan’s Aaine Ke Sau Tukde.

The play essentially deals with sibling rivalry between identical twins––Meenal and Maanya. Meenal leads a happy childhood till Maanya, who was living with her uncle, is brought back home. Gradually Meenal starts feeling neglected and lives under Maanya’s shadow. The solo act starts off with a 40-year-old Meenal recounting her life to the audience and gradually enacting all the characters who have played a pivotal part in her life.

Undoubtedly this was the most challenging role for Shweta. The doe-eyed beauty admits that she was very apprehensive while taking up this project. Says Shweta, “After reading the script, I realised that there were many characters. I asked Hasan innocently,’Which actors are essaying these roles?’ and he told me candidly that he expected me to portray all of them. I was at my wit’s end. He tried to convince me a lot but I kept on refusing. Finally he asked me to come for a rehearsal and asked me to enact all the characters.” What followed next even surprised Shweta. She realised that she could play all the 13 characters albeit with a lot of effort.

Explaining how she went about it, she says, “Hasan asked me to imagine every individual’s social background and their mannerisms and encouraged me to enact each character differently. I have played a two-year-old girl, a mother, grandmother, teacher, nurse and lawyer in this production. I also played male characters like Meenal’s childhood friend, a 10-year-old boy, her uncle etc. Usually people have seen me as a delicate, feminine actress in my tele-serials, but for the first time they got a chance to see other shades of my personality. But there isn’t a single character that is similar to my off-screen personality.”

The leggy actress also confesses that it was quite an ordeal to enact these roles and it inadvertently took a toll on her. She says, “There were times when I felt like a loser as I couldn’t get the right nuances. This role made me cry and drained me emotionally.”

Interestingly, the play has been revived after five years. Titled Mirror Mirror On The Wall, it was first staged in 2006 and starred tele-actress Payal Nair. Though it had small performances, it garnered good reactions. Hasan, who had directed it then, thought of reviving it after he showed the script to his friend, actor Joy Sengupta. After the latter liked it, the director thought of staging it in Hindi. He says, “I took liberty with my own work and turned it into a quasi-surreal play. I wanted to rope in an actress who is not only good but is popular. I was also keen to stage it on a larger scale.”

Not surprisingly, the director is all praises for Shweta. He says, “She is instinctive, spontaneous and hardworking. Shweta gave me a lot of inputs and revised some scenes that only enhanced the whole production. She plays a dark, quirky character who is lovable. Meenal’s character is like a tragic hero of a Shakespearean play.”

Hasan is planning to stage the play abroad and already has seven shows lined up this month within Mumbai.

Aaine Ke Sau Tukde premiered on March 13 at Mumbai’s Rangsharda Auditorium.