Miro Gavran’s plays were translated from Croatian into as many as 42 languages worldwide
H. E. Raj Kumar Srivastava, ambassador of the Republic of India to Croatia,
announcing the lecturer Mr. Miro Gavran, distinguished Croatian writer
Joginder Singh Nijjar, president of Croatian-Indian Society
Exchanging gifts – books from Croatia and from India
Miro Gavran obtained a nice gift from Joginder Singh Nijjar:
“Croatina-Indian Links”, published in Zagreb in 2022 upon the initiative of H. E. Raj Kumar Srivastava
From right to left: H. E. Raj Kumar Srivastava, Professor Mislav Ježić, of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts,
and Dr. Chandra Bhushan Jhan (lecturer of Sanskrit at the University of Zagreb)
On the left, Professor Mirko Orlić (expert in oceanography), of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Miro Gavran’s plays in India and Indian actress Nimrat Kaur Miro Gavran’s plays were translated throughout the world from Croatian into as many as 40 different languages. Miro Gavran’s plays had several hundred of premiers throughout the world (from ten to twenty each year), so that he is not able to follow them all (he follows four to five of them yearly). Only his play “All About Women” had as many as 53 premieres (in Zagreb, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Prague, Buenos Aires, Sarajevo, etc). Mr. Gavran regrets very much that he could not attend the premiere of his play in Mumbay entitled “The Husband of My Wife” (as well as of its subsequent continuation “The Return of the Husband of My Wife”). Both of them were premiered in Mumbay in English. Till now, Miro Gavran had as many as twelve premieres in India only. Due to his great popularity in this important country (with its population of a billion and a half), two of his plays were translated from Croatian into Hindi: “The Doll” and “When the Actor Died”, and both published in Jaipur. There is an indication that one of Gavran’s books will be translated into a new Indian language (India has 22 official languages, all of them written with specific scripts, plus English). His plays mostly deal with the relations between men and women, as well as with family relations. With a good fabula, he achieves success by combining emotions and humor. And ordinary Indian people are sensitive towards family relations. It is interesting that Mr. Miro Gavran has a niece Kristina Gavran (a doughter of his brother), living in the London town, and married to an Indian from Kerala. Miro Gavran and Indian actress Nimrat Kaur Another indeed surprising connection of Miro Gavran with India is closely related to a famous actress Nimrat Kaur. (In the language of Sikhs, kaur = princess.) Namely, Mr. Gavran had a certain importance (in fact, not negligible) in her path towards global her popularity. In short, she had a role in Gavran’s play “All About Women”. With this play she had the largest number of repeats, due to which she earned a nomitation for the leading theatric recognition in India (nominated for 7 Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards, including BEST ACTRESS, BEST STAGE DESIGN, BEST DIRECTOR, and BEST PLAY). She became famous as an actress in the film “Teh Lunchbox”, which won the first prize of the public at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in France. The film won the first prize in Croatia’s capital Zagreb as well, due to which she visited Croatia and met mr. Gavran upon her request. This article is a short summary of a very interesting lecture delivered by Mr. Miro Gavran in March 2023 at the Napredak Cultural Center in Zagreb, organized by the Embassy of the Republic of India and by the Croatian-Indian Society.
Miro Gavran’s play “All About Women” staged in India. Nimrat Kaur is in the middle.
The Hindu Published: May 2, 2011 The female principle AKILA KANNADASAN The Hindu Smiles, frowns and tears in “All about women” Photo: S.Siva Saravanan Thanks to Coimbatore Round Table 9, theatre lovers watched an excellent production of Miro Gavran’s “œAll About Women” It’s funny what theatre can do to you. After the two-hour play “All About Women” presented by Rage Productions, the audience walked out with a smile, celebrating the charm and wit of the female form. As for me, the play instantly transported me to my all-girls school. The bossy class leader, the timid bench mate and the fussy backbencher came rushing back. Organised by the Coimbatore Round Table No. 9 and produced by Akvarious Productions, “All About Women” was a wonderful journey in to the lives of women. The play has been written by Croatian author and playwright Miro Gavran. It starred Mumbai-based theatre artists Ratnabali Bhattacharjee, Prerna Chawla, Nimrat Kaur, Tahira Nath, Malaika Shenoy and Shivani Tanksale. It was made up of five interwoven stories of the dreams, aspirations and the unexpressed desires of women.
A few minutes into the play, the stage, the lights and the audience all melted away. Only the actors on stage remained. They were like people who lived next door! The story of three old ladies living in a retirement home sent the audience into a tizzy of laughter. Especially the bit where they put up a performance only because they will otherwise not get the rasagullas after lunch! The bickering 79-year-old with a walker was quite memorable too. Now that Sophie, secretary of the managing director is dead, who will get the job next? Debbie, Greta or Steffi? The story of the secretaries and the “friendship” they share provided a peek in to the minds of women who want to go up the corporate ladder at any cost. The scene at Sophie’s funeral where Debbie, Greta and Steffi feign grief was comical. Not just the grown ups, the play also presented a day in the life of three kindergarteners. It is their school day and the girls are excited about their performance on stage. But alas! One little girl’s working mother doesn’t turn up and there are tears on stage. There were many such poignant moments. Two sisters make up after seven years of misunderstanding when they come home for their mother’s birthday. The scene in which they together sing ‘happy birthday’ for their mother was moving. And, whether it was the headstrong woman, the doddering old one, or the grasping and avaricious ones, the play presented the unvarnished truth about women, warts and all. Proceeds from the show will fund charitable activities of the Coimbatore Round Table No 9. Source www.thehindu.com
Joint photo after Miro Gavran’s lecture (we omit their academic titles):
