Based on Sri Aurobindo's adaptation of Mahakavi Bhasa's Sanskrit classic by the same name, this costume drama revolves around the love-story of princess Vasavadatta and prince Vatsa Udayan. "It is a work of fiction, but is supposed to be set in the post-Mahabharata era about 100 years after the epic battle of Kurukshetra," says Toprani.

The cast, divided into groups of two and three, go through their rehearsals in a professional manner. At one end of the room, model-turned-actor Bikram Saluja (who plays Vatsa Udayan, the prince of Kosambi), dressed in a dark blue T-shirt and denim cut-offs, practises afight with another actor, Ashish. He lifts and throws Ashish to the ground. Then he pushes and shoves him, before overpowering him and leaving him lying at his feet.Next, Toprani co-ordinates a sword-fight between the two, which also Bikram wins he's the hero after all. "We are brushing up yesterday's work," Toprani explains. In another corner, Vekeana Dhillon (also a model-turned-actress) dressed in a transparent pink dress, also gets into a stick fight with someone else.

Finally, everyone is ready for a full rehearsal. Toprani takes his chair at one end of the room while the entire cast moves over to the other side. "Let's not stop in between," the director tells them. And the story of Vatsa Udayan, `God of love, wearing a human body' unfolds. Chand Mahasen, the king of Avanti (played by Ratan Batliwala, a regular in Mumbai's theatre circle), and his son Gopalak plot to capture Vatsa and bring him to their capital.Mahasen hopes to make the handsome prince his vassal by marrying him off to his daughterVasavadatta (Vekeana) and become the King of kings. "Vatsa shall be your husband and your slave...without you I have no hold on him," he tells his daughter.

And she decides to follow the king's directive, despite her mother's disapproval, but ends up falling in love with Vatsa much against her will. Shilpa Mehta who is standing in for Sangita Handa in the queen's roles, fumbles through her lines. Finally, she picks up a copy of the script and starts reading out her dialogues instead.

"Sangita is down with jaundice and Shilpa has stepped in just a couple of days ago," Toprani whispers. "This script was given to me four years ago, but I had just finished doing Rashoman and didn't want to do another heavy play immediately."

And when he was finally ready to work on Vasavadatta, he chose models like Bikram, Vekeana and Jimeesh over established stage actors. "I like to work with new people it's their enthusiasm and talent that counts and not the experience," he says. But on the flip side, he had to teachthem everything including how to stand on stage.

Toprani also worked on the original script and changed the language to cater to the contemporary audiences. "We removed the `thees' and `thous' and also cut the five-act script into a two-hour play," he says. He also hired professionals like choreographer Farah Khan, Sensei Parvez Mistry who co-ordinated the fights and costume designer Neeta Lulla to give the play an authentic period look.

"We went through some old Prithviraj Kapoor movies for the gestures and the overall look. Fortunately, we could take liberties in the costume department since there was no historical evidence to fall back upon," he says.But frills apart, Toprani believes that the play's appeal lies in its universal theme. "Children revolting against their fathers is not uncommon to any age. And contrary to popular belief, love-marriages are not new to Indian culture," he says summing up the essence of Vasavadatta.

At Prithvi Theatre, Juhu, on May 9 and May 10, 1998. Time: 6.30 pm and9.00 pm.