Act I — The Dilemma
A glowing review, four friends, and a secret Shruti is afraid to tell
AI Generation Prompt
Watercolour painting — an ultra-wide cinematic banner (16:5). Four teenagers in a small music room with a book-rack and posters of flute players, packing up a flute, tabla, keyboard and violin after a rehearsal; one girl holding a violin wears a worried, distant expression while the three boys joke around her. Warm light glowing against a dark ground. Loose luminous watercolour washes, soft wet-on-wet colour bleeds, granulation and visible paper grain, glowing against the dark ground. No text, no labels.
Act I — In Iqbal’s room
The cast: Shruti Sharma (a young violinist); Guru Nabin Sharma (her father, a master violinist and music-school principal); Leela Devi (her mother); and her fusion band — Avinash (tabla), Iqbal (flute), Peter (keyboard). The play opens after a rehearsal in Iqbal's room. A newspaper has just praised Shruti's classical performance with her father — but she looks troubled, because her father knows nothing about this fusion group.
Iqbal (reading a newspaper): "Melody runs in the veins of Miss Shruti Sharma, daughter of the master violinist Nabin Sharma!"
Avinash: Wow Shruti! You are a sensation now! The least you can do is throw a party!
(Shruti remains unaffected, lost in her thoughts. The boys surround her, trying to distract her.)
Avinash: Oh god, don't tell me you still haven't told Nabin sir about the concert!
Iqbal: Just tell them you practise with us. Tell them about the concert. There is no need to worry!
Shruti: There is need to worry, Iqbal! You don't know papa. He is very strict about these things. He will think it a of the violin to be played to Western tunes.
Shruti: Papa firmly believes that Classical Hindustani music, with its ragas and aalaaps, is the only kind of music that an artist of any worth should play.
Shruti: I don't want papa to feel that I don't care about his opinions, because I do. It's just that I want to give this a try too. I just don't know how to tell him in the right way!
Iqbal: All ways are right ways, Shruti. He is your father, he will understand.
Avinash: What's the worst that can happen? He will scold you a little, maybe. But he will eventually come round.
Shruti: You are right, guys. I guess it is time to . Tonight, at dinner, I promise to bring this up.
Pause and check.
Why is Shruti troubled despite the glowing newspaper review?
What does Shruti mean when she says 'it is time to bite the bullet'?
Shruti says her real problem isn't what to tell her father — it's how to tell him 'in the right way.' Why is the way you say something sometimes harder, and more important, than what you say?
Take a moment to form your answer before reading further.
Q1.How does Shruti's father view Western/fusion music, according to her?
AI Generation Prompt
Watercolour painting — an ultra-wide cinematic banner (16:5). Four teenagers in a small music room with a book-rack and posters of flute players, packing up a flute, tabla, keyboard and violin after a rehearsal; one girl holding a violin wears a worried, distant expression while the three boys joke around her. Warm light glowing against a dark ground. Loose luminous watercolour washes, soft wet-on-wet colour bleeds, granulation and visible paper grain, glowing against the dark ground. No text, no labels.
Act I — In Iqbal’s room
The cast: Shruti Sharma (a young violinist); Guru Nabin Sharma (her father, a master violinist and music-school principal); Leela Devi (her mother); and her fusion band — Avinash (tabla), Iqbal (flute), Peter (keyboard). The play opens after a rehearsal in Iqbal's room. A newspaper has just praised Shruti's classical performance with her father — but she looks troubled, because her father knows nothing about this fusion group.
Iqbal (reading a newspaper): "Melody runs in the veins of Miss Shruti Sharma, daughter of the master violinist Nabin Sharma!"
Avinash: Wow Shruti! You are a sensation now! The least you can do is throw a party!
(Shruti remains unaffected, lost in her thoughts. The boys surround her, trying to distract her.)
Avinash: Oh god, don't tell me you still haven't told Nabin sir about the concert!
Iqbal: Just tell them you practise with us. Tell them about the concert. There is no need to worry!
Shruti: There is need to worry, Iqbal! You don't know papa. He is very strict about these things. He will think it a of the violin to be played to Western tunes.
Shruti: Papa firmly believes that Classical Hindustani music, with its ragas and aalaaps, is the only kind of music that an artist of any worth should play.
Shruti: I don't want papa to feel that I don't care about his opinions, because I do. It's just that I want to give this a try too. I just don't know how to tell him in the right way!
Iqbal: All ways are right ways, Shruti. He is your father, he will understand.
Avinash: What's the worst that can happen? He will scold you a little, maybe. But he will eventually come round.
Shruti: You are right, guys. I guess it is time to . Tonight, at dinner, I promise to bring this up.
Pause and check.
Why is Shruti troubled despite the glowing newspaper review?
What does Shruti mean when she says 'it is time to bite the bullet'?
Shruti says her real problem isn't what to tell her father — it's how to tell him 'in the right way.' Why is the way you say something sometimes harder, and more important, than what you say?
Take a moment to form your answer before reading further.
Q1.How does Shruti's father view Western/fusion music, according to her?