‘Gaa Re Maa’: This play brings together old world music and present day artistic expression

‘

GAA RE MAA

’, a

Hinglish

play by Anahita Uberoi tells the quirky story of two musical women and their sons trying to find harmony in their lives. Prashant Kelkar aka DJ Paapi is a software engineer who aspires to make it big as a DJ. Unfortunately, his biggest gigs so far have been playing Punjabi 'hits' at weddings. However, he is certain that big things are just around the corner. There are only two things in his way: The first is his music... He finds inspiration literally everywhere, sampling sounds from all kinds of sources, but his final compositions are always difficult to comprehend. The second, his mother, Jaya Kelkar, who was once a revered Hindustani Classical singer but circumstances have forced her career astray. Between his struggle with his music and a stern, overbearing mother who is adamant to protect Pappya from the cruel world of music, it seems like DJ Paapi is destined to play Punjabi Rock at weddings the rest of his life.

But, things change when Anita Peters moves to the building with her son Dave aka ‘Dave-state’. Thus begins a series of bizarre encounters, hilarious misunderstandings, heartfelt confessions and unexpected musical collaborations as Prashant drags the Peters into his musical ventures and by extension into a cold war with his mother.

This story also brings together the old world of music and the present day artistic expression that is all about deconstructing rules – a seemingly discordant combination that fuses together charmingly. The characters, who are seemingly at loggerheads with each other, unknowingly look out for each other. The play stars

Bharati Achrekar

,

Suneeta Rao

, Aseem Hattangady, Ruturaj Shinde, Danny Sura and Zayn Khan and will be staged at

Royal Opera House

Theatre on November 7.