Tom Alter talks about his upcoming play 'Teesveen Shatabdi'

Actor Tom Alter’s upcoming play Teesveen Shatabdi has already created much abuzz. Written by the late playwright Badal Sircar, the play has been directed by Avneesh Mishra.

Themed on one of the most horrific accident in world history — the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that etched permanent scars in the minds of the people — the play highlights that how a fluky experiment killed so many people, and continued to cast a deadly shadow on the lives of the future generations.

Says Tom, “It (the play) is historical… in a way. I’m playing two different characters, both historical off course, that of Albert Einstein (the scientist) and of Leonard Cheshire (the man who taught at the famous Cheshire Home charity.) While Einstein was a science genius, Cheshire was an airforce employee,” he explains.

“So the play is historic in the sense that it shows people dealing with the planning of bombing the two Japanese cities, but most of the characters are from today — who in their quest for answers, as to why did the bombing really happen, call these historical characters on stage,” says Tom.

The play deals with questions that play on the minds of the young people like who decided the targets for these bombs? Who were the people who carried the bombs?

Originally written by Sircar in Bengali, Teesveen Shatabdi was translated into hindi by Ramgopal Bajaj.

Apart from theatre, there is a lot that is keeping Tom occupied these days. “I am doing films, television…I am writing. There is a lot happening.” He will soon be seen in the film Son of Flower (directed by Raja Bundela) with Om Puri.