How Constraints Liberate Art

The word constraint means limitation or restriction. It is instantly visualized as being tied down, not as escaping. “If you have to be creative, do not put constraints on yourself”, we are told. But can constraints lead to creativity? Can constraints help you escape? Niranjan shares his experiences with his creative process in theatre and poetry to illustrate this point.

Niranjan Pedanekar heads the User Engagement Research group at Sony Research, applying AI to entertainment; before that he was a Chief Scientist and Distinguished Engineer at TCS Research. He is also a playwright, director and actor who has written, adapted or translated over 20 plays in Marathi, Hindi and English. His adaptations “Uchchhad” and “Ghanta Ghanta Ghanta Ghanta Ghanta” received the Zee Natya Gaurav Award in 2023 and 2024. In 2018 he was awarded the Tendulkar-Dubey Fellowship. He teaches as guest faculty at Lalit Kala Kendra and FTII, writes Urdu ghazals and Marathi poetry, and translates poems across languages.