By Sherry                                              VIDEO

Lights, camera action! The stage is set, the actors in place.

I get a familiar nod from the cameraman telling me to proceed. My previous notions of fear of being in the presence of a gentleman who has been living and breathing theatre for 40 years of his life were replaced with ease and curiosity.

Indu Dharamsena is no stranger to the media sphere; he’s an accomplished director/actor who has had several successful productions under his belt over the years.

Daily Mirror Online, decided to take up a little of his time and speak to him about his journey to theatre, his views and what he has been up to.

Indu’s journey to theatre began in school. Recalling his schooling years, he said he wrote his first script at the age of 12.

“I wrote my first script for the School Kala-ulela program. As my parents were involved in the film industry, I remember listening in to their conversations about story lines and then coming up with my own stories.” He said.

When asked, what kind of drama he prefers the most, Indu smilingly says, plays that involve humor are his personal favorite; adding that most people who come for his plays expect entertainment and he thinks its his duty to deliver what the audience wants. 

Inquiring about how the Tomiya series came about, Indu said that it started when he was younger, when he had to entertain 15 his younger cousins in order to keep them quite during family gatherings.

“I would speak to them in childish voices about anything that sprang up in my mind in order to keep them entertained. Later on, I remember listening in to stories told by our maid who’s friend had worked in the Middle East and about the hardship she had to go through in life. That’s what basically inspired me to write the first edition of the Tomiya series, Madai ithin Dubai giya.

Indu added that after the first production, many people would come up to him and tell him to write a sequel to Madai ithin Dubai giya and that’s how the rest of the editions of the Tomiya series came to be.

When Daily mirror online asked Indu why new directors have not emerged in the theatre industry, rejecting the statement; he said that it’s not the case and added that there have been many new talent coming up.

“There have been a lot of new directors coming up through the inter school Shakespeare drama competition. One such person is Wasaam Ismail, a couple of years back he acted for his school and now he directs school plays for the same competition. Abbsali Rozais, is another new director who has come into theatre in the recent times. I acted for his production which was shown in March and now he has acting in one of mine,” he said.

Finally, speaking about his aspirations for the future, Indu said that it’s his dream to make ‘the Kusa pabawathi jathaka story into a theatrical production.

“The story is about a Kewum faced king marrying a beautiful girl and it is quite similar to ‘Beauty and the beast’. I want to produce an English musical using the story and combine eastern and western music and perhaps, if it’s possible to show it abroad,” he said.