Jaya, a rock musical based on The Mahabharata by Lillete Dubey comes to Chennai

This is the story of a musical that was born almost three decades ago. 

And as with every story, this one too, has a prologue. 

As someone who stepped on stage as early as in the 1970s with the likes of Barry John (the English-born Indian theatre director who has gone on to mentor many Indian stars like Shah Rukh Khan), Lillete Dubey has had a long, vast exposure to the ever-evolving medium of theatre. Yet, it was only upon setting up her own Primetime Theatre Company in 1991, was she able to actualise her longtime dream: platforming original Indian writing in theatre. 

“You wouldn’t believe the difference it makes when you are a Mira and not a Martha on stage,” she begins, “The relatability it brings to the actor and the audience cannot be explained. That became the raison d’être for setting up my company.” English was chosen as the primary language of expression to showcase Indian work widely.  

Before long, Lillete’s love for music set her on a quest to find an original piece of work that had music. This is where Sandip Kanjilal, an MTech from IIT and a self-taught music composer, came into the picture. “He had this beautiful, tongue-and-cheek body of work called Jaya based on The Mahabharata. As we know, Jaya was the original title of The Mahabharata and also means victory. But at what cost? Whose victory?” The questions were aplenty.  

A still from the play
| Photo Credit:
NATASHA HEMRAJANI 2022

In 1998, Jaya opened to a full audience. It was a hugely successful open air production; a spectacle no less. But after 40 grand shows, the curtains came down due to an unexpected tragedy. 

“It is my passion project. It is my blood, sweat, tears, money and love for music invested in this play,” says Lillete, adding, “This play had to come back.”

After six months of gruelling work, with a completely fresh score, Jaya is back on stage. “It’s Jesus Christ Superstar meets The Mahabharata meets Greek tragedy,” she laughs. Rock to Lillete remains one of the most eclectic genres of music that is personal owing to its influence in her childhood and early teen years. She laughs, “Jaya is so contemporary that it begins with Yudhisthira singing a rock song!”

After pursuing well-known composers who found the medium of a musical to be complex, she finally met Ashutosh Pathak. “Like me, he found it challenging, nerve-wracking and exciting, and he said, yes, let’s do it,” Lillete recalls. More than a 100 artistes auditioned. 

A still from the play
| Photo Credit:
NATASHA HEMRAJANI 2022

“Now, the question was, do we want actors who can sing or singers who can act. I wanted singers. It is an opera. It was my job as a director to make them act,” says Lillete. Six months of regular rehearsals later, the play is completely operatic, narrated only through sounds, rap, rhyme and full-length songs. 

While many revisionist narratives of The Mahabharata have been discussed time and again, Jaya attempts to simply present the epic as is. The narrative starts at the end of The Mahabharata when the Pandavas undertake the climb to mount Meru, only to fall. The writer has condensed the epic in two hours, a mammoth task in itself, without missing the philosophical, the spiritual or the romantic.

Lillete reminds us, “We are not trying to re-interpret it. We are not trying to preach. It is very much The Mahabharata, presented in a very different manner.” As far as the trailer goes, imagine, adeptly choreographed war sequences, seamless Kathak and kalari on stage, and hard hitting verse sprinkled across the dramaturgy. The cast includes Tirthankar Poddar, Vikrant Chaturvedi, Megan Murray, Asif Ali Beg and Sherrin Varghese to name a few, while the lights are designed by Lynne Fernandez. Suzanne D’Mello is the vocal coach.

After the resounding success at the Bengaluru show in August, Lillette is fairly certain of how Chennai will embrace her magnum opus production. “South India really knows its epics.”

Jaya will be performed on December 15 at 4.30pm and 7.30pm at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Auditorium, Lady Andal School, Chennai. Tickets on BookMyShow from ₹499 onwards.