Bringing the best of Indian theatre to your TV screens

That's the point of creating another saas-bahu show when we have years of meaningful and original content — theatre. Why not bring that to the public? A finite story of 90 minutes… (with) socially relevant themes and engaging plots," asks Shailja Kejriwal, chief creative, special projects, at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) as she discloses plans for Zee Theatre, a new format for Indian entertainment.

Zee Theatre has already acquired rights to 100 regional language play scripts and plans to show roughly 30 plays a year, 15 already in ready-to-screen mode. Apart from its own theatre website, it will screen plays in movie halls, on DTH or Netflix, on cell phones, in-flight and also be given primetime space and repeat telecasts across all Zee channels.

The Zee team took a year-and-a-half to forage scripts and liaise with theatre stalwarts like Feroz Abbas Khan, Ranjit Kapoor, Mahesh Dattani and Dr Vijaya Mehta as well as casting veterans and students at the Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad and the National School of Drama. "The idea is to create a new vertical across viewing screens. It's an archive for regional theatre so new generations don't miss out on veteran actors and plays," says Kejriwal. For instance, Dr Vijaya Mehta returns to theatre after 23 years, directing Hamidabai ki Kothi, a play she had then acted in!

Once the script is chosen, a play reading ensures to gauge the plot and alter archaic words. Sets, costumes, cast, music and edit patterns are exhaustively discussed by the channel team and two directors — one each from theatre and film to translate the three dimensionality of theatre on screen, where live plays keep in mind the audience seated in the front row as well as the balcony. Replicating the same while maintaining the flow without cuts is a task within 3-4 days of shooting the play.

Dr Chandrashekhar Phansalkar's Mera Kuch Saaman, about diverse complexities in marriage, for instance, has Ganesh Yadav as the theatre director and Chandrakant Kulkarni as film director, which blurred lines between TV and theatre showcasing.

"We used split screens to show four actors conversing with each over the phone. Also, Yadav and I decided to intentionally show the typical blackouts for scene changes and avoid tight close-ups." Kulkarni says. Yadav adds, "Actors, conditioned to theatre, would go soft pitch for scenes that required loud delivery. They were conscious of the plugged microphones. But I told them to maintain the intensity the script demands, the editing unit would handle the rest," and adds, "I love this concept. I can try new things like showing rain in my play, Vaastav, because of no budget constraints,"

The 15 Hindi plays include 30 Days of September, about child abuse by a family member; Sandhya Chayya, on aged parents who worry about their fate in case the other dies; Ma Retire Hoti Hain, about a homemaker whose chores go unappreciated; and Janpath Kiss has a man smooching a random girl on Janpath to make front page news. "There's comedy, satire, psychological thriller, social and family drama. Despite the social message, not all are serious," says Kejriwal. There are some exceptions. Like Rudali was filmed in Kolkata as the 40-member cast could not travel to Mumbai. Or Piya Behrupiya – Shakespeare goes nautanki, had a live audience.

Actress Sonali Kulkarni, the female lead in White Lily and Night Rider, about two 30-somethings into virtual dating says, "Zee did not touch my script, just revamped my sets and costumes that were simple to ensure the 15-second change between scenes," she adds. "This is an incentive for us, theatre people, who struggle to sell tickets. With multiple platforms of Zee Theatre, anyone can download my play on his cell phone and watch it on the move."

Future goals include screenings at schools to cinema screens abroad, a theatre festival and plays in Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati. And, Incredible India plans to showcase the plays at their international festivals with sub titles while Teach for India has presented an idea for a play on child education.