Deepa Mehta these days is busy directing a live CBC radio play based on 1994 book by Shyam Selvadurai, Funny Boy! The drama has an all-South Asian cast from Toronto and live music by percussionist and vocalist Suba Sankaran, of the 
group Autorickshaw.
"It's an attempt to try to deal with radio drama the way one deals with the live broadcasting of sports. The idea is for the audience at home to be there while the drama is happening.... So the best seat in the house will be in your own living room."
"You're not listening to the playback of a pre-recorded tape, but to the action as the actors are performing it live. Imagine the theatre in your mind is coming out of your radio" says BC's Damiano Pietropaolo, the play's executive producer.
Deepa Mehta was also every enthusiastic about the whole concept, " I loved Funny Boy when I first read it. It's such a warm book. It has a very deep resonance for me because it takes a very personal story and makes it universal".
"I treat it as though I was doing a film, so I'm having the actors wear saris to get them into character. The thought of doing live-to-air is just thrilling. It has to be perfect."
"We live in a city of a lot of people who live with this incredible sense of loss and betrayal by their countries of origin — who live with a longing but an inability to go back. And Funny Boy speaks about those people, whether they come from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan or Vietnam."
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