Aapki Soniya, the sequel to the iconic Tumhari Amrita, will finally have a public show in Delhi

Eighteen years ago, Farooque Shaikh and Shabana Azmi sat on a darkened stage reading out letters to each other. He tempered his affection with soft Urdu couplets and she always signed off the same way until her death — Tumhari Amrita . The story might have ended there, except that a few years later, Amrita’s daughter begins to shoot off angry mails to Shaikh’s character Zulfiqar Haider in a sequel called Aapki Soniya . It is again a darkened stage with two piles of letters, only this time Shaikh is accompanied by Soniya, played by actor Sonali Bendre in her maiden stage appearance. For five years, Aapki Soniya has toured several cities in India and abroad. Shaikh says, “The Capital understands the language of the play better than many other cities, so we’re keen on the show,” says Shaikh. Director Salim Arif, an NSD alumnus, calls the sequel “hate mail after love letters” as the mood, unlike the mellow relationship of two mature protagonists in Tumhari Amrita , is full of anger and angst before it tapers down, and finally explodes in the climax. Soniya, writing from France, plies Haider with pointed questions as she seeks to understand her mother better. Playwright Javed Siddiqi retains the refined Urdu dialogues that marked Tumhari Amrita. Salma Ansari, wife of vice-president of India Hamid Ansari, who heads Al-Noor Foundation, hopes to raise at least Rs 50,000 for her NGO.