Lushin on a high

Lushin is off on a month-long USA tour to perform hercritically acclaimed play “Salaam India” in seven American cities,starting with Rochester, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago... and the listgoes on. “We have been invited by a promoter to perform forIndia's 63rd Independence Day... It feels great, it's such an honour,”says Lushin. It was two years back when Lushin was performing in London’sNehru Centre, that Pavan Verma gifted her his book titled “BeingIndian”, with some beautiful words penned in it. “Being a woman Ikept reading and re-reading it,” she laughs. “I finished the book inthe London to Delhi flight... I was hooked,” she adds. This book is whatis the inspiration behind “Salaam India”, which has four actorsplaying 16 characters, and if that isn’t enough,” there are a totalof 16 accents and adding to the intricacy, are dancers from Ashley Lobo, whoprovide the “essence of Indianness” to the play. “Set inDelhi, “Salaam India” grapples with the questions of identity – being Indian and where we are today, stepping into this new century,while adhering to the past traditions,” says Lushin. Lushin isalso excited about her next “Ji SA’BJI”. It will only beginonce I come back from the US tour, she says. This is a project close to herheart and family as it is inspired from her father’s relations with histwo attendees, who belonged to different religious communities – Islamand Hinduism. “My father’s behaviour towards them was equal. Hetaught both of them shlokas and prayers... irrespective of where they belongedto. And you know it was these two people who cried the most on his death bed.They were so attached. It’s a tribute to my father,” says she. Shefurther adds, “The play has brotherhood and humanism to its core, andshows the striking fact that in the tough times of terrorism; more and morepeople are shifting towards spirituality,” she says. The music to theplay is being given by Delhi based contemporary music band – IndianOcean, who had previous worked with Lushin in Macbeth. “Music is a veryimportant part of this play. Here, music is a character,” sheadds.Follow us on Twitter for more stories