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Varsha Agnihotri In The Vagina Monologues
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"Men are what they do...and women are who they love!"
The Vagina Monologues is an Obie Award-winning episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the off-Broadway Westside Theatre after a limited run at HERE Arts Center in 1996.
Ensler originally starred in the production; when she left the play it was recast with three celebrity monologists. The production has been staged internationally, and a television version featuring Ensler was produced by cable TV channel HBO. In 1998, Ensler launched V-Day, a global non-profit that has raised over $50 million for women's anti-violence groups through benefits of The Vagina Monologues.
"Men are what they do...and women are who they love," believes Varsha Agnihotri, a film and theatre actress currently performing in Poor–Box Productions play, The Vagina Monologues which has been creating hype and hyperbole in India since it's first opened in India in 2003. Poor Box's Production of the original also stars Indian actresses Dolly Thakore, Avantika Akerkar, Jayati Bhatia, Sonali Sachdev, and Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal (also the producer).
The Vagina Monologues indisputably has created a worldwide awareness about sensitive women's issues and sexuality worldwide. The play is an amalgamation of monologues and each monologue tells its own perspective about the vagina, be it through sex, love, rape, menstruation, mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the variety of names for the vagina, or simply as a physical aspect of the body. "A recurring theme throughout the piece is the vagina as a tool of female empowerment, and the ultimate embodiment of individuality."
Since its inception many new dialogues have been added to the original play with a different actress essaying the character.
Shaaditimes caught up with Varsha Agnihotri, recently at The Club, Mumbai when Femina Magazine (Times of India) launched a White Ribbon initiative to spread awareness about osteoporosis. The event also had brand ambassadresses; socialite/columnist Queenie Singh and actress Pooja Bedi speak out about the disease.
Varsha Agnihotri, a lauded theatre actress made her foray into acting in Delhi where she was part of the National School of Acting Repetoire. She moved to Mumbai and joined the television series Farz and Banegi Apni Baat on Zee. "The Vagina Monologues has definitely been a turning point in my career," she admits. "The play is really a liberating statement for women worldwide."
A member of the woman's organization "Daayare" Agnihotri has always held women's and societal issues close to her heart. "I think you have to care about yourself, your sexuality and your world. I believe in protecting women's issues as well as nuclear issues."
The play in India hasn't been without it s controversies and memorable moments with Bollywood star Mallika Sherawat performing at the 100th show and Hollywood actresses and social activists, Jane Fonda, and Marisa Tomei performing it with the Indian cast on International Women's day in 2004 when it was also banned in Chennai due to Chennai police refusing permission to stage the show after finding certain portions of the script "objectionable" and warning it could pose a threat to public order. "We've had all full house shows and standing ovations. The play has touched a chord in everyone's heart," said Dolly Thakore.
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