A slice of everyday life, in this play

You might have seen or heard of this more than once. A young girl looks for a role in the Hindi film industry. She meets her father who had deserted her mother and her 20 years ago. And there lies the tale.. That’s also the story of ‘That’s My Girl’, a play set to hit the stage at the

Royal Opera House

on August 4. And it’s endearingly told. The interaction between the daughter (

Shweta Rohira

, who plays a wannabe actress) and her father played by Ananth Mahadevan, (a veteran film

writer

) is funny, but also emotional. The sequences are very relatable in this play that's being called ‘comedy with a heart’.

The two-hour long play not only looks at the familiar aspects of a father-daughter relationship, but also gives a peek into the not-so-glamorous realities of

Bollywood

. Says writer and director Bharat Dabholkar, “Every day, close to 5,000 girls and boys come into the city and are lured by the glamour of the film world. And the play is on this backdrop of Bollywood. It’s also about the relationship between a father and daughter. The two meet after 20 years and once they get together, you see how their love develops. After every show, I have had people say, ‘this is what we are touched about as we see it in our own house’. So I guess the audience sees themselves in the play. It kind of gives mirror to our lives. It has moments of humour too, as the confrontations between the young daughter and her father are fun.”

Ananya Dutta

plays the fathers companion and acts as the bridge between the father and daughter.