TAJ MAHAL KA TENDER

(separate shows in Hindi & English)

Written by Ajay Shukla

Directed by Basab Pradhan

May 26 to Jun 4, 2023

Sunnyvale Theater

Emperor Shah Jahan, transplanted to modern day India, decides to build a monument in memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Enter Gupta  Madam, the Chief Engineer of CPWD Agra. She is an experienced government official, highly skilled at running large projects for the benefit of the people who really matter - she herself and her associates. Project delays, red tape, budget revisions… and many years later, finally the tender for constructing the Taj Mahal is floated. But perhaps it is too late.

Taj Mahal Ka Tender is one of the great satirical comedies of Hindi theatre. There are separate shows in Hindi and English. The English translation is by Vidya Pradhan. 

If you have a friend in the cast, please note that the casts for the English and Hindi shows (shown below) are different. Please make sure you buy the tickets for the right show.

Age 8+ | 110 min + intermission

Google Photo Album of the cast photo shoot

Show Sponsor

 The Cast

Cast of the English Show

Cast of the Hindi Show

Rita Bhatia

Rita Bhatia, is an actor, director and playwright. She recently directed Name, Place, Animal, Thing and produced and stage managed The Square Root of a Sonnet for BADCo. As an actor, her notable work includes Dolly in Boiled Beans on Toast, Kamini in Divided By, Priya Singh in Not Equal To and Dolon in Sonata. Rita has written and directed two original short plays Chameli and Bhavna & Bhuvan for Cloud Playhouse where she is Co-founding Artistic Director. She was in the cast of Alice Memorial Park, a short film, which won many awards at film festivals worldwide. 

Rita is Executive Director at Bay Area Drama Company.

Vaishnavi Sridhar

Vaishnavi has acted in several Tamil, Telugu and English short films and plays with various Bay Area theater groups. She is thrilled to be a part of Taj Majal Ka Tender. Her recent appearances with Bay Area Drama Company are as Radhabai in The Wedding Album, Anusuya in Boiled Beans on Toast, several roles in Our Stories and the lead role of Mrs. Malik in Name Place Animal Thing.  Off stage, she played the lead role in BADCo’s Evil Eye (on Zoom) and a video production of a short play, Suprabhatam. 

Vaishnavi is the Casting Director for BADCo.

Neeraj Chawla

Neeraj discovered theatre in college when he directed and acted in many productions that performed in Chandigarh and around the country. Later he also found a talent for stand-up comedy and mimicry. But theatre remained his first love. After a long hiatus, Neeraj returned to theatre with the role of Hanuman in Naatak’s Ramayan. Taj Mahal Ka Tender is his debut with BADCo.

Neeraj is a professional in the IT industry but a fauji at heart - three generations of his family having served in the Indian armed forces.

Vineet Kumar

Vineet Kumar moved to the Bay Area in 2020 from Singapore. He has been involved with stage theatre in Singapore and Bangkok. This would be his fourth play with BADCo after Our Stories, The Cherry Orchard and Water.

Vineet heads a fast growing company  by day and moonlights as a theatre actor by night. 

Shekhar Sakhalkar

Shekhar is a theater enthusiast and has acted in several Hindi, English, and Marathi plays produced by various Bay Area organizations like CalAA, MMBA and ENACTE. This is Shekhar's first play with BADCo and he is very excited to be a part of this great production. 

Kanishk Tyagi

Kanishk has acted in more than twenty stage plays, street plays and short films. He started his theater journey in Chandigarh, India and is continuing his passion in the Bay Area now. He has been a part of well loved stage plays such as  Court Martial (400+ shows by TFT), Nitthale Ki Diary, Ek tha Gadha and many impactful street plays on social issues.

Rohaan Rane

Rohaan got a chance to play Manoj Kumar for the song Mere Desh ki Dharti in 4th Grade and since then has always enjoyed the performing arts. He is trained in the Meisner Technique.

Rohaan is a professional event host and regularly emcees events. This is his second outing with BADCo after Water. 

Roshni Datta

Roshni is a film and stage actress, dancer and director based in California. She has acted and directed with various Bay Area theater companies and has also been part of several Hindi and English language short films, sketches, TV shows and commercials. She likes to write poetry & compose parodies and music videos in her free time. With BADCo, she has previously essayed the role of Sinam in Rahul Verma’s State of Denial and several roles in Our Stories. 

Shalini Ramachandran

Shalini is an artist who has dabbled in many forms of art. She’s been a singer in Bay Area South Asian bands and a stage actor in plays like Nothing Like That and Earth, Ek Nautanki.  She is the founder of an online cooking group Euphoric Delights on Facebook with 165K members. She has emceed events, done stand-up comedy and anchored the popular radio shows Shalu Ke Bol Gappe, on Radio Zindagi and Shaam Shaandar on Radio Mirchi. Her biggest skill, according to her, is her ability to touch her nose with her tongue.

Luxmi

Luxmi did small parts in school and college plays back in India. In the Bay Area, Luxmi debuted with BADCo’s Water in 2022. She is very excited to be part of the cast for Taj Mahal Ka Tender. 

Luxmi is a Sales Manager by profession. In her free time, she enjoys tennis, long drives, hiking and camping.

Parul Maheshwari

Parul is a performing arts enthusiast and has explored its different forms. She has done acting, directing, lights and sounds for theater and streetplays in school and college. She has dabbled in stand-up comedy too. New to the Bay Area, Taj Mahal Ka Tender is her debut with BADCo.

Aditi Honawar

Aditi’s need for a creative outlet drove her towards theatre. Much of her journey in theatre has been behind the scenes, primarily as a costume designer. In this capacity, she has worked with various theater companies, including Bay Area Drama Company, since 2015. In 2021 she took the plunge as an actor, after working in a short film. Aditi is thrilled to be a part of Taj Mahal Ka Tender.

Ram Rajagopalan

Ram has a great passion for theater. After his maiden appearance in Naatak’s  Buddha, this is Ram’s fifth outing for BADCo after Our Stories, The Cherry Orchard as Sreekumar Varma, Name, Place, Animal, Thing as Batua and Master in Water.

Akanksha Jain

Akanksha has been passionate about acting since her school and college days when she performed in stage shows as well as short films during. Later she was involved with Mysore city theatre, Kalamandir, where she performed in two stage shows. This will be her first stage play in the US.

Akanksha works at PayPal as a Software Engineer.

Mugdha Manerkar

Mugdha is a passionate performing artist who is thrilled to make her debut with BADCo. Throughout her school and undergraduate years, she actively participated in story-telling, theatre, street plays and monologues. She enjoys doing various Indian and international accents. Mugdha is trained in Hindustani classical music and Bharatnatyam.

Director

Basab is a playwright, director and stage actor. His original full-length plays are Not Equal To (2017), Greater Than (2018) and Divided By (2019). His Indian-American adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House was staged in 2015.

Besides directing his own plays, Basab has directed Sonata by Mahesh Elkunchwar and Free Outgoing by Anupama Chandrasekhar. His notable work as an actor includes Chandrasekhar in The Square Root of a Sonnet, Imam Saleem in The Invisible Hand, Nath in Kanyadaan, Chairman Rao in Not Equal To, Salman in The Domestic Crusaders, Jairaj in Dance Like a Man and the recently concluded Adhe Adhure, where he played The Man.

Basab is the Artistic Director of Bay Area Drama Company.

Stage Manager

Vasudha is passionate about theater, and excited about all the different aspects that make up a mainstage production. Her dalliance with theater began in Bangalore, India, where she worked with Mad Hats Theater in various capacities. After State of Denial, Boiled Beans on Toast, and Water, Vasudha is thrilled to be back with BADCo for Taj Mahal Ka Tender, as the Stage Manager.

By day, Vasudha is a Privacy Program Manager with DoorDash Inc., and holds a masters degree from the University of Maryland at College Park.