Naseeruddin Shah launches ‘27 Seconds’ play on artistic freedom at Prithvi Festival

Naseeruddin Shah’s new stage drama ‘27 Seconds’ opens the Prithvi Theatre Festival in Mumbai on 2 November, delivering a strong appeal for artistic freedom. The 100‑minute play adapts Salman Rushdie’s memoir Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, which recounts the August 2022 stabbing at New York’s Chautauqua Institution. Rushdie was wounded about fifteen times in the neck, eye, chest, abdomen, hand and thigh, and lost vision permanently in his right eye; the darkened right lens Shah removes onstage symbolizes that lasting loss. The title refers to the roughly 27‑second span of the attack. The adaptation was written by Kolkata‑based playwright Koushik Sen together with Shah, who decided to take it on two years ago after Sen’s suggestion. Shah says the work is not about religious debate but about the right of art to exist without special protection. Co‑director Arghya Lahiri, a Mumbai theatre and cinema artist, notes that the dialogue is taken directly from the memoir and that Shah’s role is simply called “the writer,” not Rushdie himself. Lahiri points out that Rushdie’s tone in the book is more reflective than his usual magical‑realist style and that it raises questions about censorship, art and compassion. The play will run again at Prithvi from 24 November to 6 December and will later travel to Delhi, Chandigarh and Bengaluru. ## Context The production joins a growing wave of Indian theatre tackling contemporary political and cultural issues, using well‑known personalities to draw public attention to the broader debate over free expression.