''A play like 'Agnipankh' is language agnostic and will be loved by Telugu audiences," says Mita Vashisht

Seasoned actor Mita Vashisht's powerful performances on stage as well as on the big and small screen have won her much acclaim over the decades. Her portrayal of Durgeshwari, an upright, feudal matriarch in Zee Theatre's teleplay 'Agnipankh' is no exception. Mita who has worked across diverse industries, genres, languages, and formats is excited that now the play will be aired in Telugu for audiences in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

 

The teleplay traces Durgeshwari’s struggle to keep her feudal empire intact in the face of societal changes in post-independence India and says Mita, "A story like 'Agnipankh' is language agnostic and will be loved by Telugu audiences. Its theme of how women negotiate for power in patriarchal structures is universal in any case. I have also enjoyed some great theater in different languages. And so have people who have come to watch me perform on stage. For instance, one of my plays is ‘Lal Ded', which revolves around a Kashmiri mystic and poet. And people who are not even Kashmiri, have been completely mesmerized by the content, the performance, and the theme. Theater, I truly believe, can transcend language to convey many things at a subliminal level."

 

She also believes that the character of Durgeshwari and her concerns will connect with the audiences deeply and says, "She is a powerful woman who is also very vulnerable and child-like at some level because her only experience of a relationship is with her husband to whom she was married at a young age. And she's both a woman of the world and at the same time, quite inexperienced in matters of love and how to deal with a self-involved spouse. The dichotomy in her is very interesting because she is a woman of authority, very sharp as a businesswoman, and also very innocent. Hers is a very timeless, enduring dilemma that every human being experiences."

She also thinks digital platforms today are helping to expand the reach of rooted stories like 'Agnipankh' and says, "Before the advent of digital platforms, creativity was not as unfettered as it is today. And now storytellers can communicate with audiences across the world."

 Playing Durgeshwari or 'Baisaab' has been an experience of a lifetime for her and she says, "Women like her do exist in real life but they are definitely hard to find in cinema or mainstream entertainment."

The play will be aired on Airtel Theatre, Dish TV Rangmanch Active, and D2H Rangmanch Active.

It stars Dinakar Gawande, Gulki Joshi, Prabhat Sharma, Satyajeet Dubey, Satyajit Sharma, Sheetal Singh, and Somesh Agarwal and is directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay