It's a daunting proposition: Minissha Lamba on theatre debut

Thirteen years after her first Hindi film released, Minissha Lamba has made her theatre debut but the actor says performing on stage is a "daunting proposition" for her.

Lamba's first show, "Mirror Mirror", premiered in Delhi Saturday. The solo performance, that stretched around 75 minutes, saw her segueing into 13 different characters for the psychological thriller.

The English-language play, interspersed with a few Hindi phrases, is written and directed by Saif Hyder Hasan, who has previously helmed critically and commercially acclaimed "Ek Mulaqat", "Gardish Mein Taare" and "Mr and Mrs Murarilal".

In an interview to PTI, Lamba, known for her roles in films such as "Yahaan", "Bachna Ae Haseeno" and "Well Done Abba", said she was equally nervous and excited for her theatre debut.

"It's difficult because I don't have any other actor to play off as kind of support right out there on the stage. Most of the times you are looking at the audience and it is just you talking to your audience. It is very scary for me. And for someone coming with no (theatre) experience, it is a very daunting proposition currently for me," she told PTI.

Lamba explained how she has attempted bringing in different personalities for the range of characters in the play, an original story about the relationship of two identical siblings.

"There's one character which I am playing as a complete caricature, there's another for which I have taken inspiration from somebody I know. I play my younger self also which I felt was very generic. For children of a certain age their behaviour is very generic. So you can observe any child and catch their behaviour and just add body to that.

"But honestly I don't know how I prepared for this. I had a great guide and mentor in Saif sir. It is something that flowed very organically. He gave me a lot of room and leeway to first see what I am bringing to the table. Then he honed it and took it in the direction, as a visionary of the story, which he thought is the best for the story to be told," she said.

On how did she land up the role, the actor, who made her Hindi film debut with Shoojit Sircar's "Yahaan" in 2005, said, "theatre is something that I always wanted to do but it is also something that has been in the back of my mind like yeah... I'll do it someday."