Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 536

Now theatre on screen

25/2/2015

Following through on the promise of presenting a new genre of cinema adapted from the best in Indian theatre to a larger audience, CinePlay has teamed up with the Matterden Center For Creation (CFC) to celebrate the anniversary of its first release. CinePlays will be regularly exhibited at the latter’s newly-renovated 480 seat theatre in Lower Parel.

Matterden CFC is India’s first international film center and aims to provide an opportunity for Indian audiences to experience alternative content unlike none other.

This association, the CinePlay Festival Act 1, will set the stage for the first theatrical release of CinePlays beginning on Friday 27^th February 2015, with the critically acclaimed CinePlay Between the Lines. It features Nandita Das and her husband and founder of CinePlay, Subodh Maskara, and has had incredibly successful screenings both in India as well as internationally, recently enthralling audiences at Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) in New York and Yale University.

CinePlay’s current catalogue features some of the most exalted theatre productions in India such as Mohan Rakesh’s Adhe Adhure and Mahesh Dattani’s Dance Like A Man, starring some of India’s leading theatre personalities including Lillete Dubey, Mohan Agashe, Vijay Crishna, Ira Dubey, and Suchitra Pillai.

“The coming together of Matterden and CinePlay is the beginning of a new chapter in this exciting journey of creating a new genre of entertainment,” said Subodh Maskara, CEO and founder of CinePlay. “The experiment to blend cinema and theatre has received an overwhelming response from the audiences both in India and abroad, and I believe that Matterden is the perfect partner to reach out to a discerning audience.”

Nandita Das, co-founder of CinePlay, added, “When I started writing Between the Lines, I had no idea that it would inspire Subodh to create this unique format of CinePlay. It has been a personal dream to have a theatre dedicated to quality cinema and Matterden sure promises that.”

Pranav Asher, founder of Matterden CFC, remarked, “Matterden CFC is a modern day cultural centre, with a focus on path breaking creatives and concepts. CinePlay has set an extremely high creative benchmark for alternative entertainment and it is definitely something we want the audiences to enjoy.”

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya