Behind the Curtain: Director Feroz Abbas Khan Speaks on the Making of His Newest Play ‘Letters of Suresh'

Following a highly anticipated theatrical production, noted theatre director Feroz Abbas Khan and playwright Rajiv Joseph collaborated on their most recent stage project, ‘Letters of Suresh.’ The drama debuted recently at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai, starring Vir Hirani, the renowned filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani’s son, and Palomi Ghosh. ‘Letters of Suresh’ explores deep issues of love, grief, and the pursuit of human connection via a sequence of moving letters that are exchanged between the characters.

Popular works by Feroz Abbas Khan include ‘Mughal-e-Azam: The Musical,’ ‘Tumhari Amrita,’ and ‘Saalgirah.’ His collaboration with renowned playwright Rajiv Joseph, who is renowned for his perceptive storytelling, ensured that Indian audience absolutely had a moving and stirring experience. Here’s an excerpt from an exclusive chat with both the director and playwright with News18.com on all things about this wonderful collaboration.

Excerpts from the interview with director Feroz Abbas Khan :-

How did the collaboration with playwright Rajiv Joseph come about, and what drew you to direct Letters of Suresh?

Rajiv Joseph has an incredible writing voice and ‘Letters of Suresh’ drew me instantly because it is a profound study of the human condition. It talks not only about existential loneliness but also about the infinitesimal ways, human-beings can connect with each other. We have all experienced loss, nostalgia, and grief, and also found hope in the unlikeliest of places. After the scale of ‘Mughal-e-Azam: The Musical’, the intimacy of the epistolary format also attracted me and made me reach out to Rajiv, who was incredibly generous and supportive ,the play will be seen by the Indian audiences for the very first time. It is such an evocative, poignant, layered and well-crafted play and I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of directing it.

How will the themes of love, loss, and the search for connection in Letters of Suresh resonate with Indian audiences ?

As I said before, the play is not just about four protagonists expressing their deepest longings through letters but about everyone who has felt alone and tried to find solace and connection. The nationalities of the characters and the audiences is not going to come in the way of the story’s capacity to move and stir emotions. The themes of love, loss, and the search for an answering echo are universal and no matter where the play is staged, it will resonate with the audience.

What challenges did you face in directing an epistolary play like Letters of Suresh, and what were the most rewarding aspects of the process?

Well, every play comes with a unique set of challenges. Even though ‘Mughal-e-Azam :The Musical’ was a mammoth undertaking and ‘Letters of Suresh’ is much more intimate, it posed the kind of creative challenges I have never faced before. It took me back to minimalist story-telling which relies on the power of imagination and converses at a subliminal level with the audience. An epistolary format requires that the written word is authentically conveyed through gestures and verbal expressions and yet it has to be immersive enough to compensate for the lack of ornamentation. In the end, what the actors and I learnt is that good writing has great power and stripping away visual distractions in fact allowed the audience to engage intimately with the characters’ inner worlds. Witnessing the actors breathe life into these characters was immensely rewarding.

With your history of successful productions like Mughal-e-Azam and Mahatma v/s Gandhi, how did your approach differ while directing Letters of Suresh?

I have answered this already. Like I mentioned, every play comes with its own sets of challenges and so unlike ‘Mughal-e-Azam : The Musical’ and ‘Mahatma v/s Gandhi’, ‘Letters of Suresh’ marked a departure from an expansive scale. It had a confessional tenor, an intimate tone and an unobtrusive set design that emphasized the power of the written word and the actors’ performances. The goal of every production, every play however is the same; to offer the audiences a transformative emotional experience.

Would you care to talk about how you picked the actors for their specific roles in the play, especially Vir Hirani who plays the titular character?

Vir Hirani is a trained actor and an incredibly sensitive human-being. He was perfectly suited to play Suresh because he instinctively understood that this character had many hidden depths. He also had the requisite acting chops as he has trained at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). In a way, the story chose him to play Suresh. The same is true for all the actors. We instantly knew that they were perfect for their parts. They had the voice, the presence and the emotional depth to do justice to their characters.

Excerpts from the chat with playwright Rajiv Joseph for the play ‘Letters of Suresh’.

How did you and director Feroz Abbas Khan connect and how did the decision to stage ‘Letters of Suresh’ in India come about ?

Feroz approached me in New York last year and we spoke of the possibility. It was a great honor that he felt so strongly about my play.

Did you share a common vision for the production and were any specific elements included in the play just for the Indian audiences?

I was so pleased that Feroz loved my play and I trusted his vision. He’s an important and rervered theater artist. It was easy to say to him—go forth and make the play!

What was the core idea from which ‘Letters of Suresh’ grew and did any personal experiences influence its development?

This play is a companion piece (not a sequel) to an earlier play of mine, called Animals Out of Paper. In that play, there is a scene that takes place in Nagasaki, Japan. As I began writing this play, I knew Nagasaki would play a part in it, and I traveled there. That journey was hugely important for the writing of the play.

Meanwhile, ‘Letters of Suresh’ deftly explores themes of love, grief, and death as well as the pursuit of comfort and calm in the face of extreme existential loneliness. The story’s four pen pals have little in common other than their craving for interpersonal relationships.