Experimental production explores themes of feminine rage, desire, shame, rebellion through four women characters – Kaikeyi, Sita, Draupadi and Karaikal Ammaiyar Tickets available https://in.bookmyshow.com/plays/rebel-ranis-india-tour/ET00512544 September 2026 – Inspired by the writings of American playwright and feminist V (formerly Eve Ensler) comes Rebel Ranis, a powerful and genre-defying dance-theatre musical by Keelaka Dance Company. Presented as …
Experimental production explores themes of feminine rage, desire, shame, rebellion through four women characters – Kaikeyi, Sita, Draupadi and Karaikal Ammaiyar
Tickets available https://in.bookmyshow.com/plays/rebel-ranis-india-tour/ET00512544
September 2026 – Inspired by the writings of American playwright and feminist V (formerly Eve Ensler) comes Rebel Ranis, a powerful and genre-defying dance-theatre musical by Keelaka Dance Company.
Presented as a series of visceral, deeply personal confessions, this experimental piece revisits how women are portrayed in traditional myths and epics – as damsels in distress and silent sufferers where even powerful goddesses were bound by patriarchal structures regardless of their divinity.
Blending Bharatanatyam, contemporary dance, theatre, and live Tamil jazz music, Rebel Ranis brings together four women characters — Kaikeyi, Draupadi, Karaikal Ammaiyar, and Sita — who gather across time to reclaim their narratives through dance, storytelling, and theatre.
Rebel Ranis has been created by Jyotsna Shourie and Aneesha Grover – co-founders of Keelaka Dance Company – and will travel to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai this September.
“Rebel Ranis began with a simple question: what happens when women who have been viewed through someone else’s gaze reclaim the right to tell their own stories?,” asks Keelaka co-founder and dancer, Aneesha Grover.
“The work draws from the legends of women who defied the roles prescribed to them, but it is as much a conversation with the present —about agency, power, desire. For me, Rebel Ranis is ultimately about refusing to inherit the idea that a woman’s strength must come at the cost of her freedom,” she adds.
Bold, visceral, and unapologetic, Rebel Ranis reimagines scripture as rebellion — where ancient heroines speak urgently to the present moment.
Through movement and music, they confront themes of power, violence, identity, beauty, and liberation in ways that feel strikingly relevant today.
From Kaikeyi’s post-partum struggle with motherhood and power, to Draupadi’s reframing of trauma, to Karaikal Ammaiyar’s radical rejection of beauty norms, and Sita’s rise as an elemental force from the Adbhuta Ramayana, the performance transforms scriptures into a site of resistance.
The production features music by MadStarBase, Dr Himanshu Srivastava, Harini Iyer, Dr O.S. Arun, Daniel B George and stars, alongside Aneesha, Nandita Kalaan, Amrita Sivakumar, Benjamin Jacob, Sagar Vashisht, Ravi Yadav, Harini Iyer, Seejal PS, and Akshiti Menon.
The musical will go on tour later this month travelling to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and end with a special performance at the Royal Opera House in Mumbai.
Proceeds from each ticket sold for the tour will be donated to Aks Foundation, a Pune-based organization that works in the area of gender-based violence.
Tour details
City: Bangalore
Date: September 23, 2026
Venue: Media – The Stage
Tickets: Rs 499
Link: https://in.bookmyshow.com/plays/rebel-ranis/ET00512498
City: Hyderabad
Date: September 24, 2026
Venue: Rangbhoomi Spaces
Tickets: Rs 499
Link: https://in.bookmyshow.com/plays/rebel-ranis/ET00512497
City: Pune
Date: September 26, 2026
Venue: The Box
Tickets: Rs 499
Link: https://in.bookmyshow.com/plays/rebel-ranis/ET00512494
City: Mumbai
Date: September 27, 2026
Venue: Royal Opera House
Tickets: Rs 499
Link: https://in.bookmyshow.com/plays/rebel-ranis/ET00512267
ABOUT KEELAKA DANCE COMPANY
Founded in 2024 by Guru Jyotsna Shourie and her long-standing disciple Aneesha Grover, Keelaka Dance Company is a New Delhi–based classical dance and experimental theatre company that reimagines classical Indian dance through a bold, interdisciplinary lens.
The company is driven by a commitment to expanding the vocabulary of Bharatanatyam — integrating movement with theatre, film, spoken word, and immersive storytelling. Their work challenges conventional boundaries of classical performance, creating experiences that are spatially dynamic, emotionally layered, and deeply relevant to contemporary audiences.
Keelaka’s productions are known for recontextualizing ancient scriptures, goddess traditions, and lived realities through the female gaze — placing women’s voices at the centre of performance.
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