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Drama on 4: The Thali Revolution

The Thali Revolution

09/11/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, The Thali Revolution

In Bettina Gracias's inspiring story, local Indian women protest using their cooking tins.

By Bettina Gracias. A young woman in 1970s India finds independence as she protests against Indira Gandhi's regime by banging her cooking tins at night.

Bettina Gracias's play The Thali Revolution focuses on India in the late 1970s. The local women are finding it harder and harder to feed their families. The country is rife with food shortages, financial difficulty and civil unrest. Young mother, Gurinder, is desperate to provide for her children and argues nightly with her husband who is unable to find work. Taking a stand against the government feels like the only option open to her. Gurinder decides to stand outside her house banging her thali dish in protest and before long, all the women in her village are doing the same. 

Meanwhile, the leader of the country, Indira Gandhi, is getting more and more desperate too: she's losing support within congress, wondering how she can win back her opposition and her country's support. She's beginning to hear thali tins banging in her head at night.

Cast details:

Gurinder- Goldy Notay 
Haresh- Saikat Ahamed 
Paravati- Vineeta Rishi
Indira Gandhi- Shaheen Khan
Sanjay Gandhi- Christopher Simpson 

Other roles are played by Adeel Akhtar and Deeivya Meir

Directed and produced by Lucy Collingwood

Details about writer:

Bettina Gracias is a former Radio Drama "Sparks" writer and her radio work includes MY NAME IS IQBAL MASIH (winner of a Clarion Award 2009),GOAN FLAME, SINGH TANGOS, JALLEBIES AND TEA, ASHA'S WORLD, COCONUT WISHES, FROM BANGALORE WITH LOVE, ME AND MY MAN and BELONGING. Theatre work includes - SINGH TANGOS, OTHER (Shortlisted for the Verity Bargate and Manchester Royal Exchange competitions) and for TV - THE WEDDING PARTY (BBC Choice).

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