ARJUN RAINA has trained as an Actor at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Through 90's he trained as a Kathakali dancer with Guru Sadanam Balakrishanan. He is a teacher of Voice and Acting at the National School of Drama. His work in films includes playing Annie in 'In Which Annie gives it those Ones'. 

“Khelkali” is an experimental mix of Kathakali and Shakespeare. It uses the stories and text of Shakespeare and the style and theatricality of Kathakali to try and create a new authentic theatrical voice. Both were theatres emerging out of medieval morality theatre and both had storytelling at the heart of their art. With India’s colonial history as a context and its own search for a modern identity as a parameter, a combination of Shakespeare and Kathakali or Khelkali, gives a feel of a modern, contemporary India theatre. The two stories in the repertoire include ‘Othello’ and ‘A Mid Summer Night’s Dream’. He gave English introductions followed by dance to soothing Malayalam numbers. In full Kathakali costume and painted face, Arjun Raina as Peter Pillai, used the Shakespearean comedy to weave it with a story about Bhima and Anjaneya, where Anjaneya calls Bhima an ass. The ass dance he performed was a delight. 

I'm from Kerala and I know a lot about Kathakali. But I've never seen Kathakali like this. Have you ever performed before Kerala audiences? 
It's not Kathakali. I keep on saying that. There are a lot of people in the audience who have seen my shows and no one has come back to me and said, 'Oh, you're shit, man!'