As Chetan Bhagat's bestselling novel Five Point Someone is set for its staged adaptation at the NCPA in Mumbai, its Director Sunil Vishnu K of the Chennai based Evam Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. shares his enthusiasm about the Mumbai shows in which Chetan Bhagat himself is acting. He 'whips' up an analogy for his role as a Director and also tells us more about Evam, which he co-founded with Karthik Kumar in Chennai in 2003.
Deepa Punjani
It's been a while since your group has performed in Mumbai. Not only are you back with a bestseller, but you also have the writer acting in your adapted version of his very popular novel. Are you going to the charm the Mumbai audiences off their feet?
Chetan's book Five Point Someone captured the imagination of youngsters across India and was single handedly responsible for being the pioneer in making India read. The book has been able to capture the reality of young urban India from a student life perspective and that is exactly what we wanted to do using theatre. The adaptation by Evam was created to make young people in India walk into theatres, experience theatre and give them an engaging, entertaining and an identifiable story. It is to make them believe that theatre can be a part of their daily lives. That is the intention and if this play can get new young audiences to look at theatre differently - we would consider our job done. Mumbai is a significant step for Evam. And Chetan himself on stage is a bonus. So we are hoping for full houses and an appreciative audience in the Mecca of Theatre in India.
How is the Play different from its filmed adaptation?
The play was conceptualized, written and performed in its first version by The Madras Players in Chennai as early as 2007. Evam with its team of 6 scriptwriters adapted the book in its current version in 2010 and hence by the time the film was being shot - we had already finished rehearsals and the play was ready. During the creation process, Chetan told us to stay true to the soul of the book and this was the primary objective. In fact we didn't watch the film till about 1 month after its release lest we got influenced by it. So the play is a faithful adaptation of the book. It's the real thing.
How was your experience as a Director on this project?
It was a very exciting play to direct because of the fact that this piece of writing is very much here and now. The writer of the book worked with us for the adaptation and finally we had to create a play which matched the expectations of the writer and the primary audience (in this case the readers of the book). We worked for a three month period and the actors were a mix of professionals and a lot of new raw faces. Designing a two hour play which would keep the audience engaged was the most challenging aspect. Especially the light and the music design. And I directed two sets of actors for this play- both of whom will be in on stage in Mumbai.
How do you view the role of a Director?
From script to stage...his job is to infuse life into the written text and communicate, taking into consideration all relevant stakeholders like the author, playwright, creative resources, his perspective on the story, and most importantly the audience. He is like the master chef who uses various ingredients, works with various cooks and creates a dish for the guest who has come to have a meal. He serves the dish in his style and then watches with bated breath to see their response...
Whose theatre productions do you look up to?
I am not formally trained in theatre nor have I seen enough plays to claim that I follow a certain production house or a Director. Cinema has been a big influence and in recent times amongst the plays I have seen, I absolutely loved the Company Theatre's HAMLET-THE CLOWN PRINCE, Katkatha's BOLLYWOOD BANDWAGON and FUERTZA BRUTA IN CHICAGO.
Is there a particular type of theatre that you like doing?
I am driven by my passion for people and storytelling to do the theatre I do. Theatre is a live performance. It happens in real time a few feet away from an audience and has the power to make people "feel" and it is this possibility which exists in every show we do. It is this feeling which excites me and drives me to do the kind of plays I choose to do. The audiences we want to tell stories to are young Indians. Live performance has to become more accessible and relevant to the audience. It has to provide what canned content on television and cinema can't provide - the live wow factor. Artists have to put themselves in the shoes of the audience, reinvent themselves and stay ahead of the audience.
What made you think of casting Chetan in your Mumbai shows? How was it to work with Chetan as an actor?
In our career over the last eight years, Evam has adapted from British and American playwrights, and interacting with them was never an option. For the first time we got an opportunity to work on a play which is based on a book which is being sold in every nook and corner of India and the writer is a phone call away. We just couldn't resist the opportunity to ask if Chetan could be part of his own story on stage. It was an obvious question to ask and we feel lucky and honored that he said yes! He will be doing a cameo in the show and we are very excited to put him on stage saying his own lines. In fact he is the only actor who is allowed to improvise on this script. He is very excited about his debut on stage which shows in the rehearsals where he is a bundle of energy asking a lot of questions but prepared to rehearse till he gets it right.
Your company is like one of those rare and impossible success stories of making Theatre not only financially viable but also profitable. How do you do it? Is it always possible to have a 'successful' play?
"Theatre" and "Profit" are hardly words which are taken in the same breath but we have managed to create a thriving theatre entrepreneurship. And that too without celebrities. We were told from the day we started in college that it was not possible, but we decided "let's try it" and kept our hopes alive by being flexible, adaptable, eager to learn and willing to change without compromising on what we wanted to do. It was never easy, it's not easy, but we sure do hope tomorrow will be better than today (if not easier). 'Successful' is a very subjective term. Is a full house, or making profits, or winning awards, or having personal satisfaction - a success? For us each play has its own objective of why it got created and hence of how we will measure its success. On the other hand, Evam- the organization is about taking theatre to young India, it is about live performance, it is about making a difference to the world we live in and it is about being a proud profitable entrepreneurship. Being a success is not a permanent state, but one has to keep reinventing one's self with the times and that is what has kept us going. There is no formula. We wake up every morning knowing we have to run. Everyone at Evam loves what they do and somewhere we are madly stubborn to make it work in spite of failures. For us artistic excellence and economic sustainability are equally important and we are not willing to fit into the archetypical stereotype of the romantic "jhola carrying, bearded poor theatre guy."
How many people are employed full time with your company?
Evam was started by me and Karthik Kumar (classmates from batch of 2001, MICA) in 2003. We started as a company of 2 employees (us) and now have 11 full time employees, a part time team Evam of 25-30 people in our regular performance cities (Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad) and other key resources who work with us on a project to project basis.
What next?
Evam's THE 39 STEPS is also coming to Mumbai soon. 4 actors play 140 roles in 70 minutes in this play. The original production of which is playing at the West End and off Broadway as of now. We are very proud of our version of this franchise. And we are looking forward to hosting some amazing international plays in India by the end of the year.
*Deepa Punjani is Editor of this site. Evam's FIVE POINT SOMEONE will be performed at the NCPA in Mumbai on 25th, 26th, 27th February 2011.
It's been a while since your group has performed in Mumbai. Not only are you back with a bestseller, but you also have the writer acting in your adapted version of his very popular novel. Are you going to the charm the Mumbai audiences off their feet?
What made you think of casting Chetan in your Mumbai shows? How was it to work with Chetan as an actor? 
