V.K. SANTOSH KUMAR
Shiv Tandan thinks he opted for the wrong engineering course.
While he has always loved making new things, the 33-year-old ended up studying industrial and systems engineering at the National University of Singapore on an SIA Youth Scholarship. The course was focused on management, optimisation and process control.
The business of engineering wasn’t nearly as appealing to him, and his creative energy was looking for an outlet.
“It was my incredible fortune that NUS Stage (the campus theatre group) got Checkpoint Theatre on as mentors,” said Shiv, who was born in Ambala, Haryana. “And I found my home there, making plays.”
He spent nine years in Singapore after he joined Anderson Junior College at age 15. In the later years, he immersed himself in theatre work for Checkpoint.
So, it was no surprise he decided to take up writing and direction as a full-time profession when he moved to Mumbai in 2015.
The initial years were a struggle, and that features prominently in his play Fistful Of Rupees, which was staged last month by his Mumbai-based theatre company Stone Paper Stories at the Esplanade’s Kalaa Utsavam – Indian Festival of Arts 2023.
It follows protagonist Raghav’s move from Singapore to Mumbai. But, beyond the superficial humour of culture shock, the play is a reflection on Shiv’s own tussles with belonging.
“I actually worked in Singapore for three years after university before I decided to move to Mumbai,” he said. “I wanted to write and direct in Hindustani too, and Mumbai was the place to be for that. But it was also to be closer to family.
“I started writing as a response to the culture shock. I was not expecting the first few months to be that hard, and writing helped me process what I was seeing and feeling.
“Through the making of the play, I met so many (newcomers) just like myself, and I realised what I was feeling was fairly universal in the city. The play eventually became about stories of placelessness and the search for belonging.”
Shiv is now more used to life in Mumbai as a full-time writer, director, actor and music composer. Stone Paper Stories recently launched the audio web series And Now Live – India’s first audio show featuring original music performed by the actors themselves.
“Unfortunately in India, fringe theatre doesn’t pay the bills,” said Shiv, who met his wife Maanavi at NUS and has been married for seven years. “It is, however, a relatively inexpensive place to hone your craft as an artiste. Theatre is also a launchpad for a lot of other work which does pay well, which is why theatre-making is still alive and well.”
Recently, he co-wrote and co-directed a kids musical called Say Cheese Grandpa with Saregama to positive reviews. He plans to bring it to Singapore next. He is also working on a superhero comedy tackling global warming, tentatively titled The Chattaans. It opens next month.
After that, he will be back in Singapore as assistant director for Secondary, Checkpoint’s new musical production that opens in April.
