Dum Biryani and Cross Connection

Virtual – July 2021

Produced and Presented by: EnActe Arts and Rage Productions

Written By: Rutwik Deshpande

Director: Vinita Sud Belani

Music and Sound Design: Siddhartha Chattopadhyay

Dialogue Editor: Dan Holland

Editors: Grégoire Martineau

Cast: Roshni Datta, Anjali Kirloskar, Deesh Mariwala, Heren Patel

Mum, Dad, Beta, Beti have finally pulled off a zoom birthday party across 4 cities over Dad’s favorite biryani, but the surprises get deeper and darker as the conversation moves from Pinky Masi’s ‘Raavan’ laugh to relationship challenges, economic uncertainty and religious biases. It might take a smoking biryani to put this fire out! Deceptively simple and delightfully heartwarming; everyone will see themselves in this foursome.

Dum Biryani

Meet the Cast

Anjali Kirloskar

Anjali was actively involved in theater in school and college.After being a stay at home mom for many years, she recently rediscovered her passion for the stage. Since then she has done play readings and one-act plays for many theater companies in the Bay Area. She played the lead role of Deepa in in a “Widow of NoImportance” by EnActe which was very well received by the community. She has done many plays and play readings in Hindi and Marathi by many theater companies in the Bay Area, Her two short films made in the pandemic had a great response from the community.

She was a Nationally ranked tennis player in India and a certified scuba diver.

Heren Patel

A graduate of San Francisco State University’s Theatre Arts Program and Anupam Kher’s Actor Prepares in Mumbai, Heren has been seen in many stage productions across the Bay Area and has worked with many independent projects in the Bay’s independent film circuit. Heren was last seen as the title character in Cinnabar Theater’s A Perfect Ganesh before the pandemic hit. He was also seen in Indra’s Net Theater’s production of Partition as the real-life mathematical genius Srinivasan Ramanujan.

Roshni Datta

Roshni is a film and stage actress, dancer, & director based in California. She has acted and directed with various Bay Area theater companies and has also been part of several Hindi & English language short films, sketches, TV shows and commercials. She likes to write poetry & compose parodies/ music videos in her free time. With Enacte, she has previously essayed the role of Miss Hearts in Tagore’s Kingdom of Cards, and Josephina in Deepika Arwind’s How It Happens. She loved being Priya in Rutwik Deshpande’s Dum Biryani and is excited for the audience to taste the flavors of this amusing dish that director Vinita Sud Belani has cooked up!

Deesh Mariwala

Deesh Mariwala is a lover/chaser of the farts, tall tales and a rollicking good time. SInce these are often to be found in the vicinity of a theatre or stage, he has been pottering about both in front of and behind the scenes of theatre and film/TV sets for over 30 years now, creating all kinds of absolute nonsense. He also loves the roar of a finely tuned motorcycle and travels miles to listen to acoustically performed music. He now lives in London where they take the creation of comic farts far too bloody seriously for their own good.

South Asian Theatre with Universal Appeal