Community Spotlight / A MUMBAI STORY IN TORONTO: Our Exclusive Look Inside the Play ‘Elephant Song’

A MUMBAI STORY IN TORONTO: Our Exclusive Look Inside the Play ‘Elephant Song’

Community Spotlight Jun 08, 2026

by Mehak Kapoor | Entertainment Editor

Explore Elephant Song, the acclaimed Toronto play set in Mumbai, where a mysterious white elephant leads one man through grief, memory, faith, and self-discovery.

Sometimes, the most meaningful creative encounters happen unexpectedly, in passing moments between applause and conversation. I still remember meeting Kush Shah at one of the theatre productions in Toronto, where our conversation was brief yet memorable.

Now, that vision is returning to the stage in a much larger form.

Pensive Cat, in collaboration with CinemaClub, brings back Elephant Song, an original work written and directed by Kush Shah, for a limited run at Native Earth Performing Arts from June 10 to June 14. Following a sold-out debut at the 2024 Toronto Fringe Festival, the production returns transformed, expanded in scale, sharper in ambition, and more daring in spirit.

Elephant Song runs on the following dates at Native Earth Performing Arts:

June 10 at 7:30 p.m.
June 11 at 7:30 p.m.
June 12 at 7:30 p.m.
June 13 at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
June 14 at 1:30 p.m.

As the production prepares to take the stage once more, I sat down with Kush Shah to discuss the journey behind Elephant Song, what inspired this unusual theatrical world, the collaborators helping shape it, and the personal experiences that continue to influence the stories he chooses to tell.

Our Exclusive Chat With Kush Shah

Exclusive Chat: Kush Shah on Elephant Song Ahead of Opening Night — **A MUMBAI STORY IN TORONTO: Our Exclusive Look Inside the Play ‘Elephant Song’ | Photo Credit: https://www.instagram.com/_kush1912/**

Mehak Kapoor: For readers hearing about Elephant Song for the first time, how would you describe the show, and what initially drew you to tell this story?

Kush Shah: Elephant Song is a dramatic work set in Mumbai that follows B (played by Arjun Kalra), who inherits a dead-end government job after his father’s death. B works in an office responsible for signing relief cheques for the families of the deceased. Surrounded daily by paperwork that quantifies loss, he exists in constant proximity to death while remaining emotionally numb to his own grief. His life is disrupted when he encounters a white elephant, an apparition he first saw as a child at the time of his father’s passing, and one that returns to awaken him to the political, emotional, and existential violence surrounding him.

On a less literal note, I would liken Elephant Song to a city. It is like Toronto, Mumbai, Karachi, or any major metropolis in the world: packed, full-bodied, constantly barfing stimulus at you. But in its nooks and crannies, its alleys and annexes, you will find its soul: tender, warm, spiritual.

I have always been interested in the unbecoming of identity in my characters, and identity is so deeply tied to faith in the Indian subcontinent that it became the lens through which I began to examine this unravelling. The question of what happens when one feels the absence of God in a world that claims to be so full of it was the leading question that birthed Elephant Song. The version of the play that finally came to fruition is, of course, very different from this and extends this discussion of (the lack of) faith into a broader questioning of belief in systems of government and society.

What first sparked the idea of a Mumbai government employee in the death benefits department beginning to see visions of a white elephant?

I once heard a story of my grandparents running into an elephant in Haridwar (I think it was). It seemed almost magical to me to be in the accidental presence of an enormous being such as an elephant. I wondered what it would be like if the elephant were, in fact, magical, mythical, surreal. From there came the White Elephant.

The white elephant feels deeply symbolic in the play. What does it represent to you emotionally or creatively?

Freedom, but not necessarily truth. I think those are two different things. Freedom implies discovery, an escape from the normative. And the consequences of that journey can lead one through many paths of falsehoods. Truth is too personal to be capitalised, to be idolised, or to become an object of freedom itself.

But ultimately, despite its fallacies and fictions, I believe liberation is one of the most primal human urges. One must travel through the forest of darkness to find the light within. This is what the white elephant is: at first an echo, and then the catalyst of B’s desire for freedom.

What surprised you most about the way audiences connected with Elephant Song during its sold-out 2024 Toronto Fringe run, and how did that response shape your decision to bring it back in a larger, reimagined form?

I think I first and foremost made this piece keeping a South Asian audience in mind. I wanted to relive the image and imagined experience of Mumbai for myself while living in Toronto. And this is what diasporic audiences responded to most. Whether born of a misplaced sense of nostalgia or a distant longing for the textures of the subcontinent, they seemed to connect with the honesty with which the city had been portrayed.

And then I think it was B’s story. I believe grief is universal, and to the experience of having everything you hold close be thrown into question, which is what B endures in Elephant Song.

This production brings together live Indian classical music, dance, and performance. Why was it important for you to build such an immersive, multi-layered experience around the story?

Our dreams do not have a singular language. We do not only imagine in images, or words, or music, or movement. We dream in a medley of all of these things. The same applies to how we experience life, especially in a city, with all its sounds, sights, and smells. How was I to accurately depict the characters’ imaginations and lived realities without making space for all of these different forms?

I also suspect that the musical melodrama unique to Indian cinema has something to do with this. We love musical interludes and elaborate movement sequences that may not always move the story forward, but instead build the film toward something larger. Perhaps the desire to see something like that on stage is what makes this form so exciting.

Mumbai sits at the emotional core of the play. How much of your own memories, observations, or relationship with South Asian culture shaped this world?

I have a deeply fraught relationship with my city. There is no Mumbai without its mangroves, for instance, and yet the incumbent machinery seems hell-bent on realising such a preposterous vision. All my writings on the city, including but not limited to Elephant Song, chronicle the tension between my early experiences of the city as a young boy and the smoggy present that now sheaths the sky.

My relationship with South Asian culture carries a similar tone. I am deeply critical of the things I love. So too, I am of South Asia.

The play deals with memory, grief, belonging, and identity in subtle ways. Do you see Elephant Song speaking to the lived experience of many South Asians navigating life between cultures?

Although the show is set in Mumbai, I have kept the experiences that the show’s audiences would have had in mind, given that it is being presented in Toronto. And while the story doesn’t directly address what it means to navigate between cultures, one can extrapolate the feeling of loss, or of a divide between two worlds (for B, it is the real world and his imagined memories of his father) and find themselves in a position to empathise with the piece, themselves, and each other.

As the writer, director, and producer, working with such a large ensemble of actors, musicians, and designers, what has the process of building this world together been like for you personally?

I’m one of the least organised people I know, which is ironic because I often find myself in producing capacities, both for my own work and for others. I think it comes from being genuinely enthusiastic about connecting with people, and from being in the company of talented performers and technicians.

In terms of the show, yes, scheduling rehearsals for an ensemble this large is challenging. But once everyone is in the room, it doesn’t feel like much of an effort at all. There is a real collective commitment among each person in the ensemble to show up with their best, to be as alive to instinct as they can be, given the particular circumstances of that day.

For me, both as a producer and an artist, I am very open to performers shaping the piece in a way that feels right for them. I think that helps. And with the immense talent and skill that the performers, musicians, and dancers bring, I have been genuinely moved, humbled, and surprised by what we have been able to create together.

For ANOKHI readers discovering your work through Elephant Song, what would you like to say to them, and why should this be a story they experience?

I think my promise to the audience is simple: there is something in here for everyone. And we hope that the music, the performances, and the movement will stir something in your soul. ANOKHI readers should experience this story because they will find a part of themselves in it.

As a storyteller, what kinds of themes or stories are currently pulling you in, and what can audiences expect from your future work in theatre or beyond?

I don’t think I’m bound to any one medium. I don’t love theatre for theatre’s sake, or film for film’s sake, which is why I work across disciplines depending on what the story calls for.

I’m currently in pre-production for my first feature project, which deals with queer migrant farm workers in Northern Ontario. That’s where I’ll be focusing my energies for the coming year. But even there, I find myself continuing to explore ruptures within the masculine form, which is also an underlying theme in Elephant Song.

Thank you, Kush, for speaking with me about your show. I’m really looking forward to coming to watch it.

Thank you, Mehak and ANOKHI, for helping spread the word. I’m really looking forward to it as well.

About ‘Elephant Song’

Described as an existential musical drama, Elephant Song centres on “B,” a government worker employed in Mumbai’s death benefits office, whose otherwise routine life begins to fracture when hallucinations of a mysterious White Elephant start intruding into his reality.

For Kush, this reworked iteration represents more than a return to earlier material; it marks a progression, a chance to re-engage with the work through fresh inquiries, an expanded artistic ensemble, and a more layered emotional register. What happens when a story evolves in tandem with its creators? In what ways does a theatrical concept transform once it has already met an audience?

Through B’s disrupted psychological and emotional terrain, the production probes questions of bureaucracy, isolation, political unrest, and the intensifying presence of sectarian divisions in contemporary India.

Yet Elephant Song resists straightforward classification. Kush’s writing moves seamlessly between lyrical expression, satire, heightened emotional states, and surreal theatrical imagery. The piece blends narrative prose with moments of humour, unease, and philosophical reflection, drawing audiences into an experience that is both intimate and disquieting.

Returning to the production is TMU Acting graduate Arjun Kalra, who reprises his role as B following the 2024 staging. Known for performances in works such as Concord Floral and The Tragedie of Romeo & Juliet, Kalra once again anchors the emotional centre of the story. This time, he is joined by a live ensemble of Indian classical musicians and dancers, extending the production into a richly layered form where theatre, rhythm, movement, and music intersect to create an immersive sensory world.

Tickets: Available Here

Address: 585 Dundas St E, Toronto, ON M5A 2B7, Canada

Elephant Song’s Team

Company Name: Pensive Cat and CinemaClub

Show Name: Elephant Song

Playwright, Director & Producer: Kush Shah

Cast: Arjun Kalra, Suma Suresh, Chirag Motwani, Harsh Prajapati

Live Musicians: Utsav Alok, Kabir Agarwal, Dhruv Sodha, Natesh Persaud

Stage Managers: Charlotte Theraud, Devansh Shah

Light Design: Abbey Kruse Stage and Costume design: Elaf Khan

Sound design: Kabir Agarwal

Graphics and social media: Jehan Vakharia, Janice Njuguna, Ezequiel Garcia, Liann Endozo

Mehak Kapoor | Entertainment Editor

Author

Mehak Kapoor (@makeba_93) is an entertainment and lifestyle journalist with over a decade of experience in anchoring and content creation for TV and digital platforms. Passionate about storytelling and factual reporting, she enjoys engaging with diverse audiences. Outside of work, she finds solace i...

COMMENTS

The Best Runway Moments: Inside IFE's 18th Edition Runway Showcase