Zee Entertainment to foray into theatre production

New vertical will partner with renowned playwrights and theatre stalwarts to produce over 100 plays in next three years

Zee Theatre, the new content vertical of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, has become the first Indian media and entertainment firm to foray into theatre production and will start rolling out plays from December 25, a top company official has said.

The new vertical will partner with renowned playwrights and theatre stalwarts to produce over 100 plays in the next three years.

"We have produced almost 16 plays now, the digital and live show roll-out will happen on December 25 and broadcast roll-out will happen in early 2016," Zee Entertainment Enterprises Chief Creative - Special Projects, Shailja Kejriwal told PTI.

She added that they will launch at least 10 plays together on the digital platform and add a play every two weeks, while on the television, it probably would be a weekly feature.

Kejriwal said Zee will leverage its ability to make theatre available across multiple platforms such as Internet, mobile, DTH, television, in-flight, screenings at multiplexes in addition to the existing on-ground performances.

"We are also planning to take it to various schools and colleges across the country because the subjects of the plays are educative and also thought provoking," she said.

The live shows will be done in the cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bhopal which have good theatre infrastructure, she added.

Zee Theatre will work with plays of renowned playwrights like Mohan Rakesh, Jaywant Dalvi, Vijay Tendulkar, Surendra Verma, Mahesh Dattani, Ranjit Kapoor, Shafaat Khan, among others, from Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali and English theatre.

"In the beginning, we will be focusing on Hindi and after we do about 40 plays in Hindi, we will move to the regional languages like Marathi and Bengali and also English to a certain extent.

"But we are also taking plays from various languages and translating them in Hindi, so that it reaches a wider audience," Kejriwal said.

She further said that they plan to take the theatre shows outside India.

"There is a theatre-going culture that still exists in the US, the UK and other parts of the world. So, these plays will travel all over soon," she said.

Zee Theatre will showcase plays such as Rudali, Sandhya Chhaya, Piya Behrupiya, Janpath Kiss, White Lilly Night Rider, 30 Days in September, Doll's House, Ma Retire Hoti Hai, among others.