Rashi Bunny is an Indian theatre and cinema actress. She has performed in

Bhisham Sahni Bhisham Sahni (8 August 1915 – 11 July 2003) was an Indian writer, playwright in Hindi and an actor, most famous for his novel and television screenplay '' Tamas'' ("Darkness, Ignorance"), a powerful and passionate account of the Partition of ...

's '' Madhavi'', Manjula Padmanabhan's Hidden Fires, and

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...

's ''

The Little Prince ''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 a ...

'' with director Arvind Gaur. Rashi Bunny was selected as "one of the 50 Icons: Emerging personality of India" by Sahara India group with

Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president of ...

. Rashi Bunny also known for "I have a dream" theatre workshop for self-exploration and creative expression. She worked with Living Theatre Academy under

Ebrahim Alkazi Ebrahim Alkazi (18 October 1925 – 4 August 2020) was an Indian theatre director and drama teacher. A rigid disciplinarian, he instilled in his acting students an awe and reverence that they still carry with them, with several of them havin ...

. She is guest faculty member at

National Institute of Fashion Technology National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) is an autonomous institute that offers courses in fashion, designing, technology, and management. Its head office is located in New Delhi, India. History NIFT was established in 1986 under the ...

(NIFT) and has lectured widely in schools, colleges, and institutes of repute in India and abroad. Rashi organized theatre workshops for children in schools and worked with NGOs on social issues.

Education

She completed higher secondary studies at

Maharani Gayatri Devi Gayatri Devi (born as Princess Gayatri Devi of Cooch Behar; 23 May 1919 − 29 July 2009) was the third Maharani consort of Jaipur from 1940 to 1949 through her marriage to Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II. Following her husband's signature for t ...

School,

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known as ...

. She further studied at Sri Venkateshwara College,

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

and studied theater at

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

and

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and wa ...

Theatre training

Rashi did a children's theatre workshop at the

National School of Drama National School of Drama (NSD) is a theatre training institute situated at New Delhi, India. It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and became an indep ...

. She participated in SNA

Theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

Workshop, under Kanhai Lal at National Center for Performing Arts, Mumbai. After her graduation, Rashi pursued her training in Theatre Arts and Design at the

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, USA. She is a recipient of a Young Artist Scholarship And Junior Fellowship from department of Culture HRD and Ruby Lloyd Artistic and Academic Excellence award and Best International Student Scholarship Award. She acted as lead character in many plays, such as Beth Henley's ''Abundance'' and Jules Feiffer's ''Feiffer's People'' and worked with directors like Karma Ibsen, Ward Haarbauer, and Anne Carmichael.

Theatre in India

On her return to India, she worked with

Arvind Gaur Arvind Gaur is an Indian theatre director known for innovative, socially and politically relevant plays in India. Gaur's plays are contemporary and thought-provoking, connecting intimate personal spheres of existence to larger social politic ...

to explore the new language for solo performances. Rashi acted in many plays with Asmita theatre. She received the Young Artist

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

and worked under Shyamanand Jalan in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

and was part of many productions, like

Vijay Tendulkar Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar (6 January 1928 – 19 May 2008) was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi. His Marathi plays established him as ...

's ''Khamosh! Adaalat Jaari Hai'' (''

Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe ''Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe'' (''Silence! The Court Is in Session'') is a Marathi play written by Indian playwright Vijay Tendulkar in 1963 and first performed in 1967, directed by Arvind Deshpande, with Sulbha Deshpande as the main lead. Th ...

'') and ''Char Sau Karod Bhullakar''. ''Nabh Taaron Se Khandit Pulkit'', translated from an American dark comedy, was her directorial debut at Padatik. Under the MHRD fellowship, she has written a thesis on Padmashri

Ratan Thiyam Ratan Thiyam (born 20 January 1948) is an Indian playwright and theatre director, and the winner of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987, one of leading figures of the "''theatre of roots''" movement in Indian theatre, which started in the 1970 ...

's Theatre based in

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a States and territories of India, state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It ...

Acting

's ''Madhavi'', her first solo, directed by

won accolades all over India and abroad. * Manjula Padmanabhan's ''Hidden Fires'' was Rashi's other solo directed by

that has been selected by SKP as one of the best plays of year. It was performed for Queen's award project (UK) for Communal

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howev ...

. *

's ''

'' (French: Le Petit Prince), solo by Rashi Bunny directed by

. It is the only solo performance of ''

'' in the world. *'' Walking Through the Rainbow'' premiered in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...

and deals with

domestic abuse Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner v ...

and other NRI issues. * Mahesh Dattani's ''Tara'' and '' Final Solutions'' *Vijay Mishra's ''Tatt Niranjana'' *

Swadesh Deepak Swadesh Deepak (born 1943) is an Indian playwright, novelist and short-story writer. Deepak has been active on the Hindi literary scene since the mid-1960s and is best known for ''Court Martial,'' a 1991 play. Deepak's most recent book is ''Maine ...

's ''

Court Martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of me ...

'' and ''Sabse Udas Kavita'' *

Munshi Premchand Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known by his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu social fiction. He was one of ...

's story ''Moteram ka Satyagrah'' adapted by

Safdar Hashmi Safdar Hashmi (12 April 1954 – 2 January 1989) was a communist playwright and director, best known for his work with street theatre in India. He was also an actor, lyricist, and theorist, and he is still considered an important voice in Indian ...

Habib Tanvir Habib Tanvir (1 September 1923 – 8 June 2009) was one of the most popular Indian Urdu, Hindi playwrights, a theatre director, poet and actor. He was the writer of plays such as, ''Agra Bazar'' (1954) and ''Charandas Chor'' (1975). A pio ...

*Rajesh Kumar's ''Me

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

Bolto'' *Street play- ''Teen Kanastar'' for Asmita theatre group, New

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

well praised in

World Social Forum The World Social Forum (WSF, pt, Fórum Social Mundial ) is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemoni ...

Design and direction

Founding director o
Banjara Theatre
group at IIT Kharagpur, she has designed and directed many plays such as: *

Dharamvir Bharati Dharamvir Bharati (25 December 1926 – 4 September 1997) was a renowned Hindi poet, author, playwright and a social thinker of India. He was the chief editor of the popular Hindi weekly magazine '' Dharmayug'', from 1960 till 1987.The Illustr ...

's ''Srishti ka Aakhiri Admi'' *Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena's ''Bakri'' *

's ''Gadhe'' *Manjula Padmanabhan's ''Hidden Fires'' She directed many open-air productions like Daldal, Swaha-Swaha, Bandar Kaun, Girgit, Pahle Aap, Teen Apahij, Deewaren Kuchh Kehna Chahti Hain, and . For the Children's Theatre Wing of Banjara, she has written and directed musicals like ''Veer Abhimani, Aazadi Muft Nahin, TunTun TunTun Tana Bana, Education Gives Real Freedom, Gopi Gayan Bagha Bayen'' and ''Beda Dekho Ki''. She conducted theatre workshop and directed the children's play ''Ujla Tota Sabz Pari, In the universe on a magical spree'' for Nehru Centre, Mumbai, 2007. Bunny worked with many schools of repute like with ''Kena Kamal Becha Malamal'' adapted from Badal Sircar's Bengali play ''Hathamaler Paar'' in Sahayadri School, J Krishnamurty Foundation, and Pune.

Theatre festivals

These plays have been performed for theatre festivals, institutions and NGOs in India and abroad such as

Bharat Rang Mahotsav Bharat Rang Mahotsav (BRM) (भारत रंग महोत्सव) or the National Theatre Festival, started in 1999, is the annual theatre festival organised by National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi. The festival was started to showcas ...

, Muktibodh Natya Utsav, Vivechana National Theatre Festival, Fifth National Balaghat Theatre Festival, Mahindra's

Old World Theatre Festival The India Habitat Centre is a multipurpose building in the city of New Delhi, India. It was the brain child of the HuDCO Chairman, Santosh Sharma. The India Habitat Centre is one of India's most comprehensive convention centers that is aimed a ...

, World Dignity Forum, World Social Forum,

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, The Bash-International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women,

, SATTA-Theatre festival on Power politics, Natrani Festival, Darpana Academy, Ahemdabad, Sahitya Kala Parishad Theatre festival of Best productions of the year, National Solo Theatre Festival, Manch Rangmanch, Punjab Naatshala, Amritsar, Nandikar 23rd National Theatre Festival, Kolkata, Chauraha NCPA, Mumbai, Chaiti, Bhanpura, Performance and Written Word, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Jawahar Kala Kendra Theatre Festival,

. International festivals include ARMMONO-2 International One Man show festival,

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and ...

, Armenia, The North Meetings, International Theatre festival, Niznevartovsk, Russia, ART’ sce`ne, festival international des arts de la sce`ne, France.

Theatre teaching

Rashi has conducted

theatre workshop Theatre Workshop is a theatre group whose long-serving director was Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company, many of its productions were transferred to theatres in the West En ...

s for

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

and management students at IITs, IIM, colleges in Delhi and Mumbai, and for children, youth and adults from all kinds of background and judged many drama competitions all over India. For

India Habitat Centre The India Habitat Centre is a multipurpose building in the city of New Delhi, India. It was the brain child of the HuDCO Chairman, Santosh Sharma. The India Habitat Centre is one of India's most comprehensive convention centers that is aimed at ...

she has conducted theatre workshops and was the coordinator for the

Platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system ...

theatre. She was guest faculty at

NIFT National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) is an autonomous institute that offers courses in fashion, designing, technology, and management. Its head office is located in New Delhi, India. History NIFT was established in 1986 under the ...

and has lectured widely in schools, colleges, and institutes of repute in India and abroad. She participated in major theatre seminars and conferences all over world.

Awards

*Chosen as one of the 50 Icons: emerging personality of India in 2005 by Sahara India Group with Rahul Gandhi,

Sania Mirza Sania Mirza (; born 15 November 1986) is an Indian professional tennis player. A former doubles world No. 1, she has won six major titles – three in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles. From 2003 until her retirement from singles in ...

, N Karthikeyan, Kiran Majumdar Shaw,

Farah Khan Farah Khan Kunder (born 9 January 1965) is an Indian film director, film producer, actress, dancer and choreographer who works predominantly in Hindi films. Khan has choreographed dance routines for more than a hundred songs in over 80 films, w ...

and Abhishek Bachchan. *Special jury award for experimentation with tradition at International Solo Theatre Festival

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...

for ''Madhavi'' play *"Colour of Nation" award at the International Theatre festival in Nizhnevartovsk Theatre Festival, Russia *Hidden Fires, best play of year selected by Sahitya Kala Parishad *Best International Student Scholarship Award, USA *"Ruby Lloyd Aspey Scholarship" for academic and artistic excellence, UAB Theatre Department, Birmingham *Outstanding participation certificate for Dance under Talent Search, USA *President's Honor roll for Academic Excellence, UAB, United States *Best International Student Award Scholarship, UAB, USA *

Alpha Lambda Delta Alpha Lambda Delta () is an honor society for students who have achieved a 3.5 GPA or higher during their first year or term of higher education. History Alpha Lambda Delta was founded in 1924 by the Dean of Women, Maria Leonard, at the Universi ...

, National Academic Honor Society, USA *Dean's Honor list, Livingston College,

, USA *Award for Best

Director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

for the Children's play “Kitne Taare, Kitne Bulb” at the National Science Drama Competition, Birla Industrial And Technological Museum, East Zonals

Critics' remarks

*It was a delightful solo performance by Rashi Bunny, as she brought to fore a range of human emotions in

's MADHAVI... it is an experiment both in its presentation by the director

and its enactment by the actor Rashi. The set and its use to my mind is indeed

creative Creative may refer to: *Creativity, phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is created * "Creative" (song), a 2008 song by Leon Jackson * Creative class, a proposed socioeconomic class * Creative destruction, an economic term * Creative dir ...

bordering on the genius. - The Hindu *The play was among the very rare

meaningful Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...

theatre we get to watch in our city. Thought provoking, overwhelming, it left so many fighting their tears. Each person present would have identified with the double standards of our society, each person sitting there would have felt guilty of having reduced the

existence Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with reality. In philosophy, it refers to the ontological property of being. Etymology The term ''existence'' comes from Old French ''existence'', from Medieval Latin ''existentia/exsistenti ...

of a woman to a mere object, a commodity. Each woman would have relived some part of her life. -

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

*All women will be able to see a part of themselves in it. The relevance of the issue makes the time setting immaterial. Even though the play is based on mythology, Madhavi. It was a delightful solo performance by Rashi Bunny, as is contemporary in its presentation and style... -

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new on ...

*It's 'an actor's play'... The Kathavachan style has been adopted and the actor Rashi relates to the

audience An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players" ...

in day to day baat cheet...an intense and intimate theatre experience. -The Pioneer *The solo

performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

is an experiment. It's like taking people through a journey. Even the set design is very experimental. There are blank canvasses on the stage and different colours placed in earthen pots, that symbolize the different colours of life. -First City *The complex story of Madhavi, her trauma, tragedy, and conflicts were portrayed with great sensitivity by Rashi Bunny. The simplicity of set design, use of bamboo structures, canvasses & helped audiences to extend their

imagination Imagination is the production or simulation of novel objects, sensations, and ideas in the mind without any immediate input of the senses. Stefan Szczelkun characterises it as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-creations o ...

to grasp the diversity and multi dimensional directorial interpretation of the play. -

Navbharat Times ''Navbharat Times'' (NBT) a Hindi newspaper distributed in Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and Kanpur. It is from the stable of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd (BCCL), which also publishes other dailies including ''The Times of India'', ''The Economic Tim ...

Cinema

* ''Duvidha'' (Hindi) The cast includes Manoj Verma and Rashi Bunny; the director was Sharat Kumar.

Personal

Rashi Bunny's mother is an alumnus of

. Rashi's husband Dr. Parag Bhargava is a professor at

IIT Bombay The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay or IITB) is a public research university and technical institute in Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is considered as one of the best engineering universities in India and is top rank ...

Also read

Rang Prasang,

's Theatre Magazine, July–August, 2007, page 30 'Vidusi Abhinatri' Rashi Bunny' by Jaidev Taneja (prominent drama critic)

References

External links

*https://rashibunny.in
About actor Rashi Bunny

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunny, Rashi Indian stage actresses Indian film actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Living people Delhi University alumni Actresses from Mumbai Year of birth missing (living people)