Two plays, which ran quite successfully in the city, will soon be back, however, it will not be on stage but celluloid this time. The two plays, Maharathi and The President Is Coming are both complete and ready for release.

Of the two, Maharathi is a crime thriller which has been written by Uttam Gada. It has already had more than 1,000 shows in Gujarati and some 100 odd shows in its Hindi version. The play is believed to be actor Paresh Rawal's favorite and it has been his dream to make it into a film for quite a while now. Maharathi's film version has been directed by Shivam Nair and its cast boasts of Naseeruddin Shah, Rawal himself and Neha Dhupia in the main roles. The film is due to hit the theatres next week. As for The President Is Coming, it was scheduled to release last week and has now been postponed for a while. This film, which is in English and has been directed by Kunal Roy Kapoor, the director of its stage version, has been written by Anuvab Pal. The play has been running for about two years and is a comic satire. This film, which has been produced by Rohan Sippy, stars Konkona Sen Sharma and Shernaz Patel, among others. These two films are part of a whole breed of films which have been made in Hindi, based on works which were meant for the theatre. In recent times, the most prominent example one can think of is, Vishal Bharadwaj, who very successfully made the films, Omkara (Othello) and Maqbool (Macbeth), both based on plays written by William Shakespeare. However, the first man to successfully transpose the playwright's works to screen was none other Gulzar, who made the brilliant Angoor, based on The Comedy of Errors. The future seems quite bright for the entry of such dynamic works into Hindi cinema. It at least takes care of the one bane of most filmmakers, a good story.