This is a sixty minute one man show that tells the story of Mahadevbhai (1892 – 1942) who was Gandhi’s personal secretary for twenty five years from 1917 – 1942. As secretary and onlooker, Mahadev Bhai, kept a daily diary as he watched Gandhi’s struggles with Satyagraha, witnessed key political events and so jotted down the innumerable letters to and by Gandhi as well as conversations and banter, lecture and discourses. The play explores the relevance of Gandhian principles and ideology to our times and turns the spotlight on a man whose diaries and translations of 'My Experiments with Truth' have been so crucial to our knowledge of Gandhi’s life and works.

The form chosen is of lively storytelling, interspersed with humour where one actor plays out various historical characters in the struggle for Indian independence, reveals how Gandhi developed his philosophy of non-violence. The notes of this self-effacing scholar and companion provide a valuable contribution to the mind of ‘The Great Soul’ but are also important as literature and history in their own right!

Mahadevbhai opened at the Prithvi Theatre Festival, Mumbai in 2002in November and has since completed 120 shows. The play has traveled extensively in India and has been performed at various theatre festivals such as the Rangashankara Festival in Bangalore, the Sangeet Natak Academy and National School of Drama Festivals in Delhi, The Other Festival in Chennai and many more. Internationally the play has been to the Frankfurt Book Fair and Nepal upon the invitation of the Indian Consulate.

Working Title is a theatre company founded ten years ago by Jamini Pathak and is committed to performing unpublished scripts by Indian writers. (He has appeared on television in serials, Swabhimaan and Kabhie Kabhie and he was a columnist for the Indian Express In 2000-1

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