Uttam Gada is a theatre and film writer. He has penned more than 20 full-length plays in Hindi and Gujarati. He has also done script writing for Bollywood movies such as Yuh Hota To Kya Hota, Maharathi and Khiladi 420 for which he was also nominated under the category of Best Screenplay for Screen Awards in 2001. The 67-year-old writer has put together a solo play with two acts called WHATSUP that is set to be staged at the NCPA Centrestage festival. In this interview, he tells us why this play will connect with the young generation.  By Nishtha Juneja Nishtha Juneja (NJ): What inspired you to write the play? Uttam Gada (UG): I wanted to write a full-fledged solo-act play for a very long time. In fact, it took me one year to conceptualise this play for the stage. The writing process took me two months, but I would say I am still improvising. Luckily, I had a good plotline and over the course of time came up with a structure to present the play.The play is presented through one-sided phone conversations and interaction with the audience. Presenting a solo play challenged me as a writer as I had to come up with something that was interactive and engaging at the same time. This play is an experiment for me. NJ: Tell us a little about your protagonist Chirag. UG: He is a 20-something boy going to Chicago. The play is presented in a stand-up comic structure, which is very suited for a young person. It starts when he is in the waiting area, about to board the plane, when he hears of a crisis on his phone. Three stories are running parallel to each other. The play runs high on emotion with a lot of humour, laughter and tears. NJ: This seems like a play which would be relatable to young Gujarati audiences... UG: As the title suggests, the play will attract a lot of eyeballs from the younger generation. Not only that, the protagonist is a young person. He plans to go abroad and then faces a series of crises and struggles. The lingo and treatment is such that it addresses today's youngsters. But at the same time the play can appeal to people of all age groups. NJ: You have been closely involved with Gujarati theatre. What do you feel about its present situation especially vis-a-vis original writing? UG: There was an entire phase of nearly 20 years when there was no original writing. All Gujarati plays were dependent on English theatre and were adapted. Then they were adapted from Marathi plays. Now the situation has changed for the better. A lot of original writing is coming to the fore. Most of my plays are original, and I like it that way. I am happy about the development of Gujarati theatre. *Nishtha Juneja likes to act and write about theatre. Nishtha Juneja is passionate about dance and food and has completed a post-graduate diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute for Communication (XIC). read / post your comments More Interviews Ram Ganesh Kamatham Tannaz Irani Lillete Dubey Sharodiya Chowdhury and Sarthak Sharma Interview With Vishaal Asrani and Jiji Subhi BAKUL THAKKAR AND SURYA GOVLE Devendra Rao Interview Sharvari Lohokare Interview Vijay Kenkre Interview Trupti Thakkar and Ankit Gor Interview Aditya Rawal and Zahan Kapoor Umesh Shukla Interview Interview With Juhi Babbar Soni Mallika Shah Interview J BRANDON HILL INTERVIEW Anahita Uberoi Interview Interview with Jeff Goldberg Dr. Shweta Pendse Interview Interview with jamini Pathak Ashok Pandey Gagan Dev Riar Interview Taranjit Kaur Pankaj Pathakji Interview Vipul Vithlani Interview Saurabh Nayyar Interview Mukta Barve Interview Vihaan Samat Interview Vijay Kumar Interview Umesh Kamat Interview Jatin Sarna Interview Debanshu Shekhar Interview Vandana Bhushan Interview Vikas Bahari Interview Trinetra Tiwari Interview Anand Ingale Interview Deshik Vansadia Interview Kapil Dev Interview Arvind Gaur Interview Niketan Sharma Interview Ipshita Chakraborty Singh Interview Ramesh Talwar Interview Nivedita Bhattacharya Interview Jeff Goldberg Interview Ajeet Singh Palawat Interview Amitosh Nagpal Interview Ajitesh Gupta Anshulika Dubey and Aakash Prabhakar Ulka Mayur Shiv Tandan Interview Hemant Jha Interview Sangita Joshi Interview Akarsh khurana Interview with Parul Rana Satchit Puranik Interview Raell Padamsee Interview Simar Singh Interview Siddharth Randeria Interview Chandrakant Kulkarni Interview Trishla Patel Interview Danish Husain Interview Anju Makhija Interview Swati Das Interview Paromita Chatterjee Interview Akriti Singh Interview Vivek Raj Tandon Interview Avneesh Mishra Interview Imran Rasheed Interview Choiti Ghosh Interview Ila Arun & KK Raina Juuhi Babbar Sonii Interview Jay Upadhyay Interview Bhakti Rathod Interview Chandrashekhar Gokhale Interview Preeta Mathur Interview Denzil Smith Interview Rajendra Butala Interview Amitesh Grover Interview Vighnesh Joshi Interview Rajesh Deshpande Interview Mohammad Ali Baig Interview Dolly Thakore Interview M. 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Thakkar Jameel Khan Anupama Jayaram Lilelette Dubey Avatar Gill Dharmendra Gohil Rajesh Puri Kumud Mishra Kumar Shahu Meenal Patel Mujeeb Khan Anant Mudra Utkarsh Mazumdar Shekhar Sen1 Manav Kaul Rati Agnihotri Smita Jaykar Uday Chandra Rahul Da Cunha Atul Kumar Manoj Joshi Jaimini Pathak Boman Irani Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal Naseerudin Shah Joy Fernandez Kamlesh Mota Dinesh Thakur    Discussion Board

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