actress lillete dubey who has dabbled in several mediums of the craft finds theatre most exhilarating in the last 19 years of her association with prithvi she has always had a full house being one of the forerunners of english plays with indian material she believes in creating art that depicts the voice and ethos of our culturewith the ongoing prithvi theatre festival in association with bombay times the actress talks about her play gauhar and inclination towards strong women protagonistswhat place does prithvi theatre hold in your life prithvi is the mecca for theatre in mumbai and has become synonymous with theatre here there is place for every genre young radical experimental adventurous established and wellknown there is a certain purity and thats because of prithvi raj kapoor and jennifers kendal souls that inhabit the bricks of the building their sincere desire to encourage young and older talent to get a platform is commendable it is symbolic of all that is good in theatre and all of this without any monetary support had it been any other country the government would have acknowledged and supported it this place has survived on sheer passion we get the best audience here as prithvi has inculcated the theatregoing habit in peopletell us about your play gauhar it is inspired by vikram sampats book and chronicles the life of eminent hindustani classical vocalist gauhar jaan 18731930 she was a fascinating woman a prodigy a lyricist a dancer a singer and a composer the courtesans back then were more educated and progressive thinking they were cultured and respected people gauhar had a fascinating personal and professional life she was the first woman from this part of the world to sing for an international label when the entire music fraternity opposed the decision they felt that music was sacrosanct and looked at it as blasphemy however she took it as a challenge and successfully recorded it i have subconsciously had an eternal fascination for womenoriented stories and have veered towards strong women protagonists rather than adhering to the text we decided to get inspired by it we had the liberty to explore the fictional space allowing us to tap the veracity of emotions left unsaid as well as to showcase the intricacies of what transpired between the mother and the daughterwhy this subject i learnt classical music when i was very young and wanted to do something in it its not a play just on music but is also a human relationship story of the protagonist with her mother as well as lovers it amazes me that how only a few have heard of gauhar her legacy is so strong yet unknown the challenge is to make the story interesting and relatable another attraction was the era as that period was so fascinating music is very beautiful and her legacy lives onfor latest bollywood updates follow us on twitter toientertain for the latest in bollywood news like us on facebook toientertainwhat does