Stories &
Reflections

Behind-the-scenes stories, directorial notes, and reflections on 35 years of theatre.

Mareez: The Poet Who Sold His Ghazals for Five Rupees and Became Immortal
Heritage·16 Nov 2024

Mareez: The Poet Who Sold His Ghazals for Five Rupees and Became Immortal

Abbas Abdul Ali Vasi dropped out of school in the second grade. He died on a Mumbai street at sixty-six. In between, he wrote the poetry that made him the Ghalib of Gujarat. The play has been running for twenty years.

Why Hindi Theatre Matters in 2024
Opinion·22 Mar 2024

Why Hindi Theatre Matters in 2024

In a world dominated by screens, live Hindi theatre remains one of the most powerful ways to hold a mirror to Indian society.

35 Years of Fearless Theatre: A Retrospective
Feature·10 Jan 2024

35 Years of Fearless Theatre: A Retrospective

From Master Phoolmani in 1999 to Clean Bold in 2025, a look back at the productions, people, and moments that defined Ideas Unlimited.

Performing at Siachen: Theatre at 20,000 Feet
Behind the Scenes·5 Aug 2023

Performing at Siachen: Theatre at 20,000 Feet

When the Indian Military invited us to perform at the Siachen base camp, we said yes without hesitation. Here’s what happened next.

How Karl Marx Ended Up in Kalbadevi
Director’s Note·18 May 2023

How Karl Marx Ended Up in Kalbadevi

The story behind one of our most popular plays — imagining what would happen if Karl Marx visited a chaotic Mumbai neighbourhood. Twelve years and counting.

Bombay Flower: The Parsi Socialite Who Married the Man Who Divided India
Behind the Scenes·15 Apr 2023

Bombay Flower: The Parsi Socialite Who Married the Man Who Divided India

At eighteen, Ruttie Petit defied her family, her faith, and Bombay society to marry Muhammad Ali Jinnah. By twenty-nine, she was dead. Ideas Unlimited’s Gujarati play recovers her story.

Dr. Anandibai in Three Languages
Behind the Scenes·14 Feb 2023

Dr. Anandibai in Three Languages

Staging the same play in Gujarati, Hindi, and Marathi taught us more about India’s linguistic soul than any textbook ever could.

Adbhut: How a British Play About Depression Found Its Truest Voice in Gujarati
Behind the Scenes·10 Apr 2022

Adbhut: How a British Play About Depression Found Its Truest Voice in Gujarati

Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe’s Every Brilliant Thing has been performed in over 80 countries. When Satchit Puranik adapted it into Gujarati and RJ Devaki stepped on stage, something shifted.

Kaagdo: What If Happiness Is Not the Problem but the Answer?
Director’s Note·15 Jul 2019

Kaagdo: What If Happiness Is Not the Problem but the Answer?

A man is taken to court for being happy. His crime: contentment in a world that demands ambition. Ideas Unlimited’s Kaagdo asks the question nobody wants answered.

Dr. Anandibai: The Woman Who Sailed to America in 1886 and the Play That Asked If Anything Has Changed
Heritage·20 Jan 2018

Dr. Anandibai: The Woman Who Sailed to America in 1886 and the Play That Asked If Anything Has Changed

India’s first female doctor died at twenty-two. A hundred and thirty years later, Manasi Joshi stands alone on a bare stage and asks: has anything changed for Indian women?

Bhav Prapanch: Staging India’s First Allegorical Novel
Heritage·15 Jun 2014

Bhav Prapanch: Staging India’s First Allegorical Novel

A thousand years before Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, a Jain monk named Siddharshi wrote the world’s first allegorical novel. Ideas Unlimited brought its 16,000 verses to life on stage.

Hu Chandrakant Bakshi: 178 Books, One Banned Story, and Zero Apologies
Heritage·15 Jul 2013

Hu Chandrakant Bakshi: 178 Books, One Banned Story, and Zero Apologies

He authored 178 books, served as Sheriff of Mumbai, got arrested for a short story, defied Bal Thackeray, and never apologised to anyone. The play that brings Gujarati literature’s most controversial writer to the stage.

Bhamasha: The Jain Warrior Who Funded Maharana Pratap’s Last Stand
Heritage·15 Feb 2013

Bhamasha: The Jain Warrior Who Funded Maharana Pratap’s Last Stand

Everyone knows Maharana Pratap. Almost no one knows the man who made his resistance possible. Ideas Unlimited’s Hindi historical drama recovers the extraordinary story of Bhamashah.

Jal Jal Mare Patang: The Philosopher Who Burned Too Bright for Forty Years
Heritage·15 Apr 2009

Jal Jal Mare Patang: The Philosopher Who Burned Too Bright for Forty Years

Married at fourteen. India’s first women’s magazine editor. Invited to the Parliament of World Religions before Vivekananda. Dead at forty. The story of Manilal Dwivedi, the man Gujarati literature is named after.

Achalayatan: When Tagore’s Most Radical Play Spoke Gujarati
Heritage·15 Oct 2008

Achalayatan: When Tagore’s Most Radical Play Spoke Gujarati

In 2008, Ideas Unlimited brought Rabindranath Tagore’s fierce allegory of institutional rigidity to Kolkata’s Tagore Festival — in Gujarati. The story of how a nearly-forgotten adaptation by Gandhian intellectuals found new life on stage.