Got To Be Aishwarya - A Play By Bharat Dabholkar

Cranking up the theater scene in Hyderabad is a tale of Bollywood this week. No, it doesn't star Aishwarya Rai. That's not the purpose, either.

Concern India Foundation is staging a play, Got To Be Aishwarya, directed by Bharat Dabholkar and Viny Apte, at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, this Sunday. It features Tom Alter, Ananya Dutta and Mona Ambegaonkar in the central characters.

A warm comedy about a father, a daughter and Bollywood, Got To Be Aishwarya begins with a 20-something girl’s search for her estranged father who she hasn't seen for two decades. Her search brings her to Bollywood. With absolute and unshakeable faith, she has nurtured a dream. That her father, who she presumes is an influential writer in Bollywood, will help her fulfil her ambition of becoming a star.

Her slightly maverick father, Neil Kapoor, however, is not ready for this intrusion. But the determined youngster’s request for an entry into Bollywood is really a masked desire to retrieve their lost relationship. Thus begins the journey of an intense, if not slightly mad, father-daughter bonding that moves through the highs and the lows, like a game of snakes and ladders.

It’s a tale about the ambitions of youth, about the frustrations of adulthood, about losing someone you love, about finding someone you love... and the magnificent moments of emotions experienced in the process. The play not only looks at all the familiar aspects of a father-daughter relationship, but also gives you a peek into the not-so-glamorous realities of Bollywood.

The play is part of Concern India Foundation's efforts to raise funds for charity to support shelter homes for street children, schools for rural and slum children, and vocational training for destitute girls.

Started in 1991, Concern India Foundation is a non-profit, public charitable trust that supports development-oriented organisations working for the disadvantaged. It has 7 offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune. Concern India focuses on core issues essential to sustainable social development: Education, Health, Community Development and Environment.

The entry to the play is by invitations only. For invitations and further details, please contact 98497-21980 or 98481-07469.