Bengaluru has the best and most receptive audience: Lillete Dubey

It was a packed house at Good Shepard Auditorium as Lillete Dubey’s latest play Devika Rani had the final staging of its first run in Bengaluru. The evening saw a host of Bengaluru’s who’s who swing by to watch the play based on the first screen goddess of Indian cinema who had made Bengaluru her home in the final years of her life.
The play evoked a lot of laughs, some empathy and applause.Everyone was all praise for the cast, led by Ira Dubey as Devika Rani, along with Joydeep Sengupta as Himanshu Rai, Pranav Sachdev as Ashok Kumar and Kashyap Shangari as Najam-Ul-Hasan. Thanking the audience, Lillette said, “This is the 10th and the final staging of the first tour of this play. We’ve been to Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Pune, but Bengaluru has been the best and most receptive audience. Right from the first comic line, there was applause and laughter. The city never fails to disappoint me.”
Seen in the audience was dancer Vani Ganapathi, actors Chetan and Samyukta Hornad and a host of socialites. Chetan, who studied in Yale University along with Ira Dubey, said, “I found the play extremely relevant even today, especially how they showcase some gender issues that haven't changed even after so many decades.”
Devika Rani’s secretary’s nostalgic moment
For 90-year-old Lizzie D’Souza, it was a special moment at the play. She is someone who knew Devika Rani very closely in the latter part of her life. “I was her secretary for 18 years. The play brought back a lot of memories from those times. I really wish they had more of her life with Svetoslav Roerich, which I was privy to,” she said. Lizzie also stayed back after the play to interact with Ira, who played Devika on stage. Ira was thrilled that she got to talk to someone who knew the yesteryear screen goddess personally. “I wish I had met you earlier, I could have taken notes and suggestions for essaying my character,” she told Lizzie.