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Clone play: Can history handle spitting images?: The Pioneer
New Delhi, Aug 30: What if there was not one but three Lady Dianas? One would have taken care of Prince William and Harry, the other concentrated on helping landminers, while the third would have ensured that hubby Prince Charles dare not stray.
New Delhi, Aug 30: What if there was not one but three Lady Dianas? One would have taken care of Prince William and Harry, the other concentrated on helping landminers, while the third would have ensured that hubby Prince Charles dare not stray.
Imagine a world endowed with more than one Marilyn Monroe? She would have been the star of Bollywood notching up not 37, but 200 films in her career. Her clones would have spread all over the world, ensuring that her audience had "more" to see.
Imagine if Gandhiji had been cloned. A multitude of Gandhiji's would have ensured that India wins her independence much earlier.
Such a fantasy is coming alive on stage in a play titled Psyclone which takes an insightful look at human cloning. Psyclone which opens in Mumbai on Sunday is expected to be staged in New Delhi in October before moving onto South Africa.
The play, directed by Sanjay Srinivas, has the UN entrust on an IIT engineer the task of researching and preparing a project, which recommends a ban on legalising human cloning. The engineer, Siddharth, also favours a ban on cloning. But before he submits the report he has a strange experience. The fear of a ban brings to life the Dead and the Famous, who descend the earth - in this case the stage - to extol on the virtues of cloning to the engineer. History would have taken a different turn if they had clones. If the Mahatama had clones, his battle for India's freedom would have been smoother. Skirts flaring around her naked legs, Monroe says she would have spread her clones worldwide, joining the world's busiest film factory, Bollywood. Adolf Hitler defends cloning, his clone would have ensured victory in world war II. More than one Bheema would have surely prevented the battle of Hastinapur. Lady Diana one would have been devoted purely to keep her husband from eyeing other women, while her clones did the tedious job of bringing up the boys and social service. But as the play unfolds the famous actors realise their error, and their illusions shatter.
The "dead" heroes meet, and the sequence has its light side. Monroe falls, hard, for Bheema's brawn, and gives him the glad eye. But she has bewitched Hitler who is coming onto her. Gandhiji and Diana are above such things and are engaged in serious discussions.
Director Srinivas says that the play later takes them on the Hotseat, it is court martial where they have to answer uncomfortable questions. Questions which have always plagued our mind. Hitler gets the third degree about concentration camps, Monroe is questioned on nudity, while Phoolan Devi is asked about the massacres she committed. Even the Mahatma is not spared, he is probed about partition and its bloody aftermath. Through this introspection, they realise that cloning is not so good after all, even with the best of intentions. That creation is best left to God.
Mundra says that the idea for the play was born after reading a recent issue of Time magazine which listed human cloning the second most serious issue facing the world after terrorism. The play is in English and will star Rajesh Puri as Hitler, Daman Maan as Bheema, Hritu as Marilyn Monroe among others. The play is being produced by Style House.
Imagine if Gandhiji had been cloned. A multitude of Gandhiji's would have ensured that India wins her independence much earlier.
Such a fantasy is coming alive on stage in a play titled Psyclone which takes an insightful look at human cloning. Psyclone which opens in Mumbai on Sunday is expected to be staged in New Delhi in October before moving onto South Africa.
The play, directed by Sanjay Srinivas, has the UN entrust on an IIT engineer the task of researching and preparing a project, which recommends a ban on legalising human cloning. The engineer, Siddharth, also favours a ban on cloning. But before he submits the report he has a strange experience. The fear of a ban brings to life the Dead and the Famous, who descend the earth - in this case the stage - to extol on the virtues of cloning to the engineer. History would have taken a different turn if they had clones. If the Mahatama had clones, his battle for India's freedom would have been smoother. Skirts flaring around her naked legs, Monroe says she would have spread her clones worldwide, joining the world's busiest film factory, Bollywood. Adolf Hitler defends cloning, his clone would have ensured victory in world war II. More than one Bheema would have surely prevented the battle of Hastinapur. Lady Diana one would have been devoted purely to keep her husband from eyeing other women, while her clones did the tedious job of bringing up the boys and social service. But as the play unfolds the famous actors realise their error, and their illusions shatter.
The "dead" heroes meet, and the sequence has its light side. Monroe falls, hard, for Bheema's brawn, and gives him the glad eye. But she has bewitched Hitler who is coming onto her. Gandhiji and Diana are above such things and are engaged in serious discussions.
Director Srinivas says that the play later takes them on the Hotseat, it is court martial where they have to answer uncomfortable questions. Questions which have always plagued our mind. Hitler gets the third degree about concentration camps, Monroe is questioned on nudity, while Phoolan Devi is asked about the massacres she committed. Even the Mahatma is not spared, he is probed about partition and its bloody aftermath. Through this introspection, they realise that cloning is not so good after all, even with the best of intentions. That creation is best left to God.
Mundra says that the idea for the play was born after reading a recent issue of Time magazine which listed human cloning the second most serious issue facing the world after terrorism. The play is in English and will star Rajesh Puri as Hitler, Daman Maan as Bheema, Hritu as Marilyn Monroe among others. The play is being produced by Style House.