Mohan No Masalo
Recipe for Making a Mahatma
The play that entered the Limca Book of Records. The play that Pratik Gandhi performed before Scam 1992 made him famous. The play about Mohandas Gandhi before he became the Mahatma. Mohan No Masalo — Mohan’s Spices — recovers the young Mohandas: the scared boy from Porbandar, the awkward teenager who married at thirteen, the mediocre student who sailed to London to study law, the diffident barrister who failed in Bombay courts, and the accidental activist who boarded a train in South Africa and found his purpose when he was thrown off it. These are the masalas — the spices — that made the Mahatma. The recipe, told by the man himself. Pratik Gandhi performs the ninety-minute monologue alone against Atul Dodiya’s black-and-white backdrop paintings of a young Gandhi. The Gujarati script was written by Satya Mehta, the Hindi version by Mihir Bhuta and Arpit Jain, the English by Ishan Doshi. Parthiv Gohil provided the vocal performances. The play premiered on 22 March 2015 at NCPA and was subsequently performed in all three languages — Gujarati (Mohan No Masalo), Hindi (Mohan Ka Masala), and English (Mohan’s Masala) — in a single day at the same theatre by the same actor. This feat earned a Limca Book of Records entry for ‘Performance of One Play in Multiple Languages in One Day.’ Manoj Shah on why he made this play: ‘I wanted to be with youth. Best way to re-invent ideas for youth without cliché results is Mohan ka Masala.’
The People
Behind
the Play
Press &
Reviews
The National
Manoj Shah's New Play Discovers the Early Days of Gandhi the Legend
A light-hearted one-man show about the early life of Mahatma Gandhi, rooted in fiction and performed by Pratik Gandhi in three languages — earning a Limca Book of Records entry.
22 March 2015
Mid-Day (Suprita Mitter)
Three Times the Mahatma
A play performed in three languages — Gujarati, Hindi and English — by the same actor on the same day looks set to wow all you theatre junkies.
9 June 2016
Mumbai Theatre Guide
Mohan No Masalo — Review
Mohan No Masalo is written by Ishan Doshi and directed by Manoj Shah. The young Gandhi takes you through his journey with an extraordinary quality that makes the production extraordinary. Pratik Gandhi gives a stellar performance.
1 April 2015
Gujarati Mid-Day
Ek Kalakaar, Ek Director, Ek J Natak Tran Bhashama
One actor, one director, the same play in three languages. Mohan No Masalo performed in Gujarati, Hindi, and English on Friday at Prithvi Theatre — a historic theatrical event covered with a full page in Gujarati Mid-Day.
7 June 2016
Navgujarat Samay
Ek J Kalakaare, Ek J Natak — Tran Bhashama Raju Karyu
Same artist, same play, presented in three languages. Navgujarat Samay's detailed account of Pratik Gandhi performing as young Mohandas in Gujarati, Hindi, and English — and the Limca Book of Records entry.
14 June 2016
IndianShowBiz
Popular Play 'Mohan's Masala' Comes to Mumbai
The celebrated theatre company Ideas Unlimited is coming to Mumbai on 10th June 2016 with their hit production Mohan's Masala, a mono act about young Mohandas Gandhi, starring Pratik Gandhi and directed by Manoj Shah.
8 June 2016
Sandesh
Multi-Tasking na Maharaja: Shishir Ramavat on Pratik Gandhi
Shishir Ramavat's profile of Pratik Gandhi in Sandesh — an engineering graduate and Reliance deputy general manager who balances a corporate career with starring in Hu Chandrakant Bakshi and Mohan No Masalo.
5 June 2016
Mumbai Theatre Guide (Keyur Seta)
Mohan No Masalo — Review
May not bring any particularly new insights, but there is a friendly, entertaining quality that makes the production enjoyable. Pratik Gandhi has raised his standard — his remarkability is on display.
15 April 2015
Mint (Vikram Phukan)
Gandhi: A Stage Favourite
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi continues to fire the imagination of writers everywhere. In Manoj Shah's Mohan No Masalo, Pratik Gandhi plays the young Mohandas with a friendly, entertaining quality against Atul Dodiya's paintings.
20 August 2016
CreativeYatra
An Inviting Flavour: Mohan No Masaalo
Pratik Gandhi's portrayal of the young Mohandas is both entertaining and enlightening, revealing the human behind the Mahatma through the metaphor of masalo — the spices of experience.
30 January 2017
Chehra Mohra (Utpal Bhayani)
Mahatma na Mooliyaan Dekhado — Mohan No Masalo
The roots of the Mahatma shown through Mohan No Masalo. Utpal Bhayani's Gujarati review traces how Manoj Shah's play recovers the ordinary Mohandas before the extraordinary Mahatma — and argues this is exactly the Gandhi today's youth needs.
1 May 2015
Gujarati Review
Mohan No Masalo — Review by Divyasha Doshi
My tailor is the only man who behaves wisely — he takes my measurements afresh each time. This play does the same with Gandhi: it measures the man anew, from angles we never considered.
1 June 2015
Gujarati Review
Mohan No Masalo — Review by Hemant Karia
After watching Mohan No Masalo, one wants to say: this is Manoj Shah's Mohan — just as we once said 'Attenborough's Gandhi.' If an ordinary Mohan could become Gandhiji, why can't one of us?
15 May 2015