Breaking barriers through stage

When it comes to entertainment, it���s not always about movies, music and TV shows. If you think the whole of Tollywood believes in that, then you are wrong. Real and inspirational stories, through other mediums, too find resonance and support. And showing the way are a few Tollywood personalities along with a Catholic priest, who have joined hands to promote ���alternative entertainment��� through a musical based on the life of Mother Teresa. ���Cinema is not the only form of entertainment,��� says Fr Balashoury Udumula, ���But sadly, in India, this is the case.��� In a bid to change this perception and offer more to the audience, the priest, along with Tollywood personalities like Akella (Suryanarayana), a playwright and Anup Rubens, a composer, came up with the idea of a musical on the life of Mother Teresa. ���In countries like the US, apart from cinema and theatre, the opera too is very popular. In India, however, cinema tends to be the only form of entertainment available. This is what prompted me to come up with the musical that also carries a message. I mulled over many ideas, and finally zeroed in on ���humanism��� as the theme. Then came the next challenge of finding a suitable story for the theme.And that I found in the life of Mother Teresa,��� says Fr Bala, whose earlier film ��� The Last Appeal ��� won three international accolades. The musical, titled, Mother Teresa, is two-hours long with Akella (Suryanarayana), a Nandi Award winning writer, penning the script, Suddala Ashok Teja writing the lyrics, and composer Anup Rubens scoring the music. Speaking on what drew him to pen a musical, Akella says, ���The theme of ���humanism��� is what drew me in to this project. If it was about religion alone, I would have flatly refused because I know I wouldn���t be able to do justice to it in my writing. This subject is universal.���For research on this play, Akella visited Kolkata and stayed at the Mother Teresa House for 10 days, interacting with the priests and nuns. ���Some of the priests and nuns had worked with Mother Teresa and they helped me get a peek into her life ��� I needed to stay true to the facts. While it usually takes me about a fortnight to write a play, I took five months to pen this one, since there was no room for dramatisation,��� adds the Nandi Award winner, who admits that he found the job ���difficult at first��� but ���enjoyed working on it���.The musical has 80 characters and 30 crew members. ���Since we wanted to give people a different experience, we decided to produce the musical on the lines of a ���touring theatre���. After staging it here, the musical will tour Kolkata, Pune, Bangalore and a few other cities. Composer Anup Rubens has composed three songs ��� one theme and two situational. ���The songs are sung by MLR Karthikeyan, Sadhana Sargam and Sravani. What���s interesting is that though the musical will have 11 huge sets and 23 scenes, we won���t be using any curtains ��� all transitions will be done by lightings,��� explains Fr Bala.The actor who essays the role of Mother Teresa, theatre artiste Sreeja Sadineni, says it was the ���striking resemblance��� she found with Mother Teresa and her own picture, that pushed her towards doing the play. ���When I was approached for the role, I had turned it down, since I haven���t been doing theatre for three years. Later, I came across a post on a social networking site with my picture besides Mother Teresa���s ��� I found that I looked so similar to her! That���s when I told myself that I have to do this role,��� shares the actor. Sreeja will portray Mother Teresa from the age of 21 till 87 in the musical. Talking about the challenges she faced, Sreeja says, ���I had to work a lot on my expressions and body language, since it���s not easy to play an old woman. There is just a five-minute gap during transitions, when I get my makeup done according to the age I play.���The play is also the first of its kind to have an audio launch that will see former cricketer VVS Laxman grace the occasion. ���Yes, I think this is the first time a musical is set to have an audio launch, and I am really grateful to VVS Laxman for agreeing to do the honours. In fact, I want to extent my gratitude to all those who have worked on this project as they have either charged only a nominal fee or nothing at all,��� says Fr Bala.