eNatya Chaupal presents "Innocence beheaded: Challenges for a play based on real life brutality"

The actors may even perform a scene to give you a sense of their work. The play has been inspired by real-life events surrounding the Norwegian actor Hans Christian Ostro, whose life was brutally cut short.

Twenty years ago, the Norwegian actor was beheaded by Kashmiri militants. He had come to India to learn Kathakali and write a play based on the Mahabharata, but a holiday in Kashmir put a cruel stop to all that.

Director Shubhrajyoti Barat had briefly met the young man when the latter had come backstage after one of his plays. That he should see his face in the papers a few days later as a victim of terrorism shook him badly. The incident, he says, stayed with him, and when he opted to turn director by launching Knot Theatre, he decided to tell Hans' story.

Shubhrajyoti Barat started his journey in the early nineties, working with theatre luminaries like Satyadev Dubey and Jayadev Hattangady. He joined Ekjute Theatre Group headed by Nadira Zaheer Babbar in 1993. Shubhro, as he is popularly known, acted, designed lights, sets and music for most of the Ekjute productions between 1994 and 2005.

He branched out and worked with playwright/director Chetan Datar.

From 2007 onwards, Shubhro started working with Sunil Shanbag and Manav Kaul. In 2007, he directed his first play based on Tagore's "Shesher Kobita" with Tom Alter.