Sun 11 Jan
|Mumbai
Does Art Heal?
A conversation on the connection between creativity and mental health
Time & Location
11 Jan 2026, 18:00 – 19:30
Mumbai, 51, Pali Village, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050, India
About the event
In this candid conversation, Ira Khan chats with Mohit Takalkar, director of Anatomy of a Suicide, and Toral Shah, producer of Every Brilliant Thing - two plays that deal with mental health and suicide in starkly different ways. Both speakers are immersed in the performing arts and are no strangers to personal, individual struggle. They are joined by Samay Ajmera, a certified music therapist and psychotherapist.
About the speakers:
Mohit Takalkar
Mohit Takalkar set up Aasakta in Pune in 2003. He has directed more than thirty-five plays in Marathi, Hindi, English, Urdu, Kannada and Marwari. He is also known as a film editor and screen director having edited more than 25 feature films apart from documentaries and TV series. His debut feature as a director, The Bright Day premiered at the Toronto International festival. He went on to direct Chirebandi, Medium Spicy and Occasional Reflection on the Contingencies of Life.
He has been awarded the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, Homi Bhabha Fellowship, Shankar Nag Theatre Award, Amrish Puri Award, Sahitya Rangbhoomi Fellowship, among several others.
Samay Ajmera
Samay is a certified music therapist and psychotherapist. His work is grounded in depth-oriented psychotherapy. Alongside individual work, he facilitates experiential music therapy workshops for groups and organisations, using music as a medium to access emotional awareness, reflection, creativity, and connection.
Toral Shah
Toral first discovered theatre in college, putting props in place. Ever since then, she has been enthralled by the 'dark' side of theatre. Currently she is the Creative Producer and Production Manager at QTP and recent productions include Every Brilliant Thing, Wildtrack, The God of Carnage, Mother Courage and her Children. She enjoys her role as one of the driving forces of Thespo - a youth theatre movement that is now in its 24th year. She has also been instrumental in the building of ambitious international collaborations like The Mirror Crack'd, Gates To India Song, Nirbhaya and Maya-The Musical. However her first love remains the rehearsal room, and the magic of transforming a show from two dimensions to three.