Weekend Exclusive | I don't associate with brands other than the brand of God: Gopi Warrier

With a degree in English literature and an MBA from renowned universities like London Business School and Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales, Gopi Warrier is a renowned poet and a playwright. His amazing qualifications and skill sets have spanned across countries and he is known for his plays "The Tenth Incarnation' and more recently "God Sports', bith of them staged in London.

But he is back to Mumbai this time, in conjunction with Courtyard Theatre, London, with his play "Siddhivinayak saves Mumbai from terror attack'. The play has been written, produced and directed by Warrier, the play is full of fun and magic with a compelling take on modern, urban India.

The play will look at creating a confluence of the element of Indian culture, religion and mythology with aspirations and threats faced by contemporary society in India today. The play has been planned with utmost care and detailing to cater to all kinds of audiences.

The play's story centers around an upper middle class Maharashtrian family whose patriarch Dr. Deshpande lives a semi-retired life in Mumbai with his wife, son, daughter-in- law Madhavi and cricket crazy grandson Avinash. Dr. Deshpande is an ardent devotee of Siddhivinayak and is also very compassionate to his staff and has a tolerant understanding of other religions. He is very kind to the family's maid who has been ostracized by her relatives for marrying a Muslim boy. The patriotic Muslim boy discovers a plot by a western agent to explode a bomb at Siddhivinayak temple to create communal disharmony in Mumbai and by the prayers of Dr. Deshpande and the boy Ali himself the temple is miraculously saved.

The underlying message of the play is the need to preserve the cultural, philosophical and religious traditions of India's composite culture that has evolved over millenniums against the corrosive influence of the highly materialistic western consumerist and celebrity culture that is fast encroaching India.

The play will be running at the Rabindra Natya Mandir from 25th December ' 12th January 2011 and the Tata Theatre (Experimental) from 14th January 2011 to 16th January 2011.

To promote this play, there was an online contest which gave theatre goers a chance to win interesting gifts.

Adgully caught up with Warrier to find out more about his new play and the very new interactive form of campaign to promote his play.

Talking about the play, Warrier says, "It is a very philosophical play and at the same time it is for children and for audiences across age group. It talks about the decreasing importance of values, traditional beliefs and customs in a fast changing world. It will try to address the kind of blind imitation of the West that is happening right now when the West itself is looking for values. India has made a major contribution to a lot of international studies through its culture of values and customs, but we here haven't valued it much."

"I have written poems and plays on similar subjects. I have always had an inclination towards philosophy. Besides in a time like this when the world itself is in a crisis situation, where nobody knows what value sets to follow. I think it is necessary what relevance of a culture and its values. We are a civilized nation and we keep absorbing newer values and at the same time we should keep the relevance of our traditional values going," he adds.

Talking about the online promotional campaign for his latest play, he says, "We had a lot of inquiries about the play and we have in fact gathered a very good response for our online contest. We have received entries from all over the world."

"There are a lot of audiences who are not just entertained through movies in general and they look for thought provoking medium of entertainment like theatre. I don't see a point in writing a play which has no relevant to the Indian audiences," he adds.

Acknowledging the importance of marketing plays with professional aid, Warrier says, "I think it's very important to professionally market and promote a play in today's world. Besides I think promotion through internet is a great medium to reach out a fan base or audiences across the globe."

"I am personally not in favour of brands being associated with a medium like theatre. We have no brands associations as of now too. I don't associate with any brands other than the brand of God," he adds light-heartedly.

He further adds technology in theatre is not important, but is important is the meaning and relevance of the theme. "It is really about going to back to the Veda and understand the beginning of this world," he adds.

"Young talent should turn inwards to our mythology and philosophy," he signs off. | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]