Rakshashodi Thota is Shudrka Hyderabad’s contemporary musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant, set against the rapidly changing landscape of India’s metropolitan cities. The play begins in a public park filled with the energy and imagination of children. Their world of play is disrupted when a selfish giant claims the garden as his own and drives them away. With the children gone, the garden changes: flowers disappear, the seasons turn harsh, and an endless winter settles over a space that once thrived with life.

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As the story unfolds, the garden becomes more than a magical setting. It becomes a metaphor for the shrinking public spaces of the city—spaces increasingly taken over by private interests and land grabbers. What happens to children when there is nowhere left to play? What happens to the elderly when the shared spaces of a neighbourhood disappear? The play uses the simple story of a garden to ask larger questions about ownership, community and our relationship with nature.

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Blending physical theatre, movement, music, sound and imaginative theatricality, Rakshashodi Thota moves between the playful world of children and the darker realities of the contemporary city. The actors use their bodies and sound to create the changing landscape, while the garden itself becomes an active presence in the story.

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At its heart, Rakshashodi Thota is a story about what happens when we turn a shared world into private property—and about the possibility of transformation when we learn to open the door again. The production has evolved through repeated performances, with each performance bringing a new perspective to the story.

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Direction: Swapan Mondal

Cast: ​Aditya Singh, Surya Dev Chandra, Ananth Vikram, Sourabh Singh, Rahul Max, Dharmendar Sai, Pranay Bhardwaj, Nikhil Namala

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Rakshasudi Thota has been performed at several theatre and cultural spaces in India, reaching audiences across different communities​:

5 February 2023 — 3rd International Theatre Festival, Naihati, West Bengal​

25 December 2021 — Andhra Cultural Association, Kolkata, West Bengal

24 December 2021 — 18th Rangapeeth Natyamela, National Theatre Festival, Santipur, West Bengal

23 December 2021 — Behrampur National Theatre Festival, Chuanpore, West Bengal

10 December 2021 — Lamakaan, Hyderabad

21 August 2021 — Rangbhoomi Space, Hyderabad

27 February 2021 — Rangbhoomi Space, Hyderabad
 

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