Hindi adaptation of Manjula Padmanabhan’s Harvest premieres in Delhi

A new life in Hindi

Harvest was written in English, but has been staged in Greek and Italian. A new translation into Spanish has just been published in Colombia. Mehta’s production in Delhi marks the first authorised staging of the play in an Indian language, using a new translation by actor-director Rahul Rai and published by Hachette India.

For Mehta, the linguistic shift is central to the production. “I felt the English text was distancing us from the reality of the world the play created,” he says.

Padmanabhan, who worked closely on the translation process alongside a four-member editorial team from Hachette, says the experience of hearing the play in Hindi is revelatory. The playwright, who is not a Hindi speaker, feels that the change in language had a powerful impact on the audience. Terms describing family relationships carried deeper emotional and cultural meaning than the equivalent terms in English.

“I realised watching the audience that they were reacting to these words – like ‘saas’ and ‘bahu’ – because they are related directly to the people in their own families,” Padmanabhan says, recalling the rehearsed reading of this Hindi version at Black Box Okhla in 2025. She believes Hindi-speaking audiences may find it easier to identify with the characters.

When Harvest premiered in 1998, audiences were being asked to imagine a dystopian future. In 2026, however, the distance between the play’s imagined future and reality has narrowed considerably.

“Harvest was always a reflection of the world we’re living in,” Mehta says. It’s just become a little clearer now.”

Harvest will be staged at Black Box Okhla on June 11 to 14 at 8 pm

This article is written by Adithi Reena Ajith