The Vasant Gujarati Theatre Festival brings to Mumbai the folklore, dialects and concerns of Gujarat, through four days of plays, musicals, poetry, comedy and more.

By Nidhi Lodaya  

After a successful edition in 2025 that saw audiences coming in from Gujarat and other cities of Maharashtra, Vasant, the NCPA’s Gujarati Theatre Festival is back, and this time it promises to be wider in scope. First started in 2011, the festival (which then ran for seven editions) was revived last year with a focus on experimental and modern narratives. Vasant, which means spring, stands for the freshness and vibrancy associated with Gujarati theatre, which has a rich history in Mumbai.

Writer and theatre critic Shanta Gokhale said in a speech in 2024, “Mumbai, which speaks four languages— Marathi, Gujarati, English and Hindi—has four distinct theatres.” Gujarati theatre in Mumbai traces its roots to Parsi-Gujarati theatre, and it was only in the late 1800s that companies such as Gujarati Natak Mandali (1878-89) and its successor Mumbai Gujarati Natak Mandali (1889-1948) emerged. The first production by the former, Lalita Dukhdarshak, was a reformist play which is also hailed as the first social tragedy in the Gujarati language. Around the same time, travelling theatre groups rose to fame with their mythological and religious themes, while commercial theatre, which flourished alongside, stuck to entertainment. Amateur experimental theatre made its way on to the scene around the 1920s and ’30s with the rise of playwrights like Ranchhodlal Udayaram Dave and C. C. Mehta, regarded as the father and pioneer of modern Gujarati theatre respectively. Over time, commercial Gujarati theatre, laced with innuendos and slapstick comedy, became mainstream. Vasant aims to showcase the experimental and progressive side of Gujarati theatre alongside other genres.

“This year, we are adding to the variety of shows to be presented—from stand-up comedy, spoken word and poetry to experimental work and commercial plays, because this is what we want to celebrate,” says Bruce Guthrie, Head of Theatre & Films, NCPA. He adds that the idea behind the festival is to create an experience with multiple shows and workshops throughout the day to learn about Gujarati theatre and have conversations over Gujarati snacks, all within one campus.

The festival opens with Shakespeare Mharo Jamai, a Rajasthani folk play that blends music and satire. Also part of the line-up is a stand-up comedy show by popular Gujarati content creator Viraj Ghelani; Aditi Desai’s Akoopar, which is about the Maldhari community of the Gir forest; theatre workshops by Ankit Gor and Vishal Shah; Manoj Shah’s latest play Socrates; a dramatised book reading of Ravanhattho by Udayan Thakker; and Saumya Joshi premiering Choggo, his spoken word and poetry show. Lagna – The Musical, which redefines Gujarati wedding songs, will be the finale show for Vasant this year.

Philosophy with a Gujarati twist

Having directed over 90 plays in a career spanning nearly 50 years, thespian Manoj Shah’s association with the NCPA goes back a long way. He has premiered his popular plays such as Mohan No Masalo and Karl Marx in Kalbadevi here, and is back with a new production, Socrates, which will have its Mumbai premiere at Vasant.

Even after more than two millennia, ancient Greek philosopher Socrates continues to exert a strong influence on modern thought. Despite not having written anything himself, his philosophy became known to the world through works written by his students; Plato, perhaps, being the most famous. “His teaching holds value even today,” says Shah. “In simple words,” he says, “know yourself. You don’t need any external God because your God is with you, inside you, and if  you have a dialogue with yourself, you will have your answer. He also believed that good things happen to those who do good deeds.”

Shah recalls that it was a book on Socrates by Gujarati novelist Manubhai Pancholi ‘Darshak’, which planted the idea for the play years ago. “Socrates was 70 when he was sentenced to death. When I turned 70 recently, I felt the time was ripe to engage with this great philosopher again,” says Shah. He contacted Dipak Soliya, a journalist who has written on Kafka, Dostoevsky, among others, to write the script for the upcoming production.

The play focuses on the one-day trial of Socrates on the charges of impiety and the corruption of the young. “His story, the court case and the verdict are stirring, especially for a dramatist, if you imagine the psyche of a person when they are told that they are going to die,” says Shah. Just like his other plays, there will be a relatability factor with a touch of humour. The play has music by Amit Bhavsar, which will be a fusion of Kathiawadi and Greek tunes.

Dhrumit Chauhan’s Shakespeare Mharo Jamai plays on the idea of the universality of stories steeped in human emotions. The play follows the Banjara folk artistes of Rajasthan who come from a rich background of storytelling but remain unseen and unheard. When they perform works by Shakespeare, however, they realise that his stories mirror their folk tales. Folk singers and instrumentalists, wielding the dholak, kartal, sarangi and manjira, all feature in this play that has much to say about stories being a shared human treasure that defy linguistic and cultural barriers and all attempts at taxonomy.

Stagecraft decoded

Like last year, this edition includes several workshops. Between the Lines by Ankit Gor makes the inner workings of theatre accessible to beginners and early practitioners. From stage presence to dialogue delivery, the workshop is designed not as a lesson but a live rehearsal.

In Unfreeze Unlearn, Ahmedabad-based actor and art entrepreneur Vishal Shah will take participants through the craft of theatre improvisation. The workshop, designed around the idea of apparent spontaneity, offers a toolkit for overcoming inhibition, active listening, individual expression and working as a team.

Gujarat ni kavita

In keeping with the state’s vibrant history of poetry, the multi-hyphenate Saumya Joshi is premiering his spoken word and poetry show Choggo this year. Joshi is well known for his poetry and lyrics in the National Award-winning film Hellaro and the popular Coke Studio Bharat song, ‘Khalasi’. Choggo, which in Gujarati is slang for the cricket boundary, includes two other well-known Gujarati poets, Anil Chavda and Bhavesh Bhatt. “We are breaking away from the tradition of one poet coming onstage, reading verses for half an hour, followed by another poet. In Choggo, the three of us will pick our poems, compare themes and see which poem goes well with the other. It will be all three of us trying to create a kind of unison in emotion,” explains Joshi. Much thought has been given to the lighting design and music accompanying the poetry.

Joshi says that the trio call themselves street poets because their language, diction and subjects come from the streets of Gujarat. The Gujarati penchant for nicknames, too, will play out onstage—Saumya will be ‘Saumdo’, Anil will be ‘Anilio’ and Bhavesh will be ‘Bhavlo’. “This is poetry from the streets, spoken by the people and written for the people,” Joshi says about the subversive content of the show.

Also on the line-up is a dramatised reading of select poems from Udayan Thakker’s Ravanhattho. The work journeys through mythology, history, art and contemporary realities, moving from the moral complexities of the Mahabharata and Ramayana to the haunting memories of World War II.

Another addition this year is the introduction of Gujarati stand-up. Content creator Viraj Ghelani has gained tremendous popularity on social media for his relatable skits on everyday Gujarati life, with a liberal dose of humour. In his family entertainer, That’s So Viraj, he captures the madness and love of growing up in a Gujarati household.

Culture, untouched and remoulded 

Aditi Desai’s Akoopar ventures beyond the betterknown spaces of Gujarati theatre. Based on a novel by Dhruv Bhatt, this play is about the Maldhari (cattle breeder) community that lives in the forest of Gir. The play covers the culture and traditions of the community, their relationship with nature and animals, their philosophy of life and conservation of the Gir.

According to Gujarati folklore, the earth balances on the top of a tortoise named Akoopar. This tortoise is the saviour of the earth. The Maldhari community upholds this belief—the Gir forest is Gujarat’s Akoopar, without which the state’s ecosystem will be adversely affected.

As part of her research, Desai spent a month in the Gir forest. “With the help of the Forest Department, our team was also able to interact with the Maldhari community to understand their philosophy and daily life. And these gleanings then made it to the script. We also worked with their boli (language) because every community speaks their own version of the Gujarati language,” shares Desai. The sets have been made to look as authentic as possible, and the costumes, made by local tailors who also sourced the fabric with bandhani and ajrakh prints, reflect the traditional attire of the region. Desai ensured that the Maldhari community got to see the play. Going strong for 13 years, Akoopar will be celebrating its 98th show at Vasant.

Closing the festival is Lagna – The Musical, which winds its way through 18 traditional wedding songs. “The idea,” says director Pritesh Sodha, “was to promote the lagna geet of Gujarat and take them to the next generation. Though they are well-composed, the younger generation may not take to the old-school arrangement.” Popular music composer and singer Parth Bharat Thakkar, who is also the producer of this musical, arranged the songs to appeal to the tastes of young theatregoers, infusing the original compositions with modern instrumentation to make the sound more contemporary. At the same time, the songs come with the joy of familiarity making the play nostalgic for older audience members who may have heard them in real-life settings. The idea, say the minds behind the musical, is to revive traditional songs not only onstage but also at future Gujarati weddings. At its core, the musical is a wedding farce where seemingly trivial issues, such as not having a say in the invitation card, hint at something larger like losing one’s identity after marriage.

“Festivals [like Vasant] are extremely important,” says Sodha. “We can try something without hesitation, but it is also overwhelming to get a venue like the Tata Theatre, so it is our responsibility to work hard and not make any mistakes.” Joshi notes that Mumbai used to be the epicentre of Gujarati theatre at one time, a distinction it has perhaps ceded to Ahmedabad now. This is why festivals like Vasant have a larger role to play in reviving and building an audience for Gujarati theatre, especially among the younger generation.

This article was originally published in the March 2026 issue of ON Stage.