Director’s Note on MUKTIDHAM

Varun Iyengar as Agnivesh and Shobha Subramanian as Ahilya.

Photo by Pranav Koundinya

I first saw Muktidham at Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai many years ago, and it left an impression on me. So when Abhishek Majumdar’s Collected Plays went on sale on Amazon in June 2024, I ordered it immediately. By August, we were already in conversation with Abhishek about staging Muktidham in our 2025–26 season.

The play’s backdrop is India in the 8th century CE, a time when Hinduism and Buddhism were vying for supremacy. Inside a Hindu math (monastery), two acharyas are competing to become the next mathadheesh (monastery head). Outside, a Buddhist artisan is murdered — and with that single act, the fragile balance shatters, and everything spirals.

Muktidham is, simply put, a gem. Its plot is taut, its characters unforgettable. The writing is elegant, and the wit — oh, the wit — it pierces the walls of our belief systems even as it makes us laugh.

This is, without question, the most complex play I’ve directed. Luckily, I have a remarkable cast who have made the journey not just possible, but joyful. Our cast and crew have poured their heart and spirit into these characters. They’ve debated, questioned, unlearned, and rebuilt. And in doing so, we’ve all discovered that Muktidham isn’t merely a period drama. It’s a mirror — sometimes flattering, often unsettling — held up to where we stand today.

– Basab Pradhan