| Part | Shakespeare Source | Title (NBI) | Rukhs’s Role | Synopsis (Brief) | |------|-------------------|--------------|--------------|------------------| | 1 | Romeo & Juliet | “Mangal Madhur” | Juliet (Marathi) | Two rival Mumbai street‑art collectives fall in love against the backdrop of a citywide graffiti war. | | 2 | Macbeth | “Maut Ka Mausam” | Lady Macbeth (Hindi) | A corporate ladder‑climber conspires with her husband to seize a tech‑startup’s CEO seat. | | … | … | … | … | … | | 20 | The Tempest | “Sagar Ke Sapne” | Prospero (gender‑fluid) | An ex‑exile tech‑guru creates a virtual island to protect his AI‑created “children.” | | 21 | All the World’s A Stage (meta‑collage of all 37 plays) | “Shakespeare Part 21: The Grand Confluence” | Multiple (Rukhs portrays Portia, Ophelia, Rosaline, and an original character Maya, a modern‑day playwright). | A live‑streamed, 90‑minute mash‑up where all previous story‑lines intersect in a digital “Bard‑Verse” – a virtual theatre space where avatars of the characters debate, love, betray, and ultimately rewrite their own endings. |
Why Part 21?
The number 21 symbolizes the series’ ambition to bring Shakespeare into the 21st century while also nodding to the 21 major tragedies and comedies that Shakespeare wrote. Part 21 is the culmination—a single, self‑referential episode that stitches together every narrative thread introduced in the earlier installments.
| Aspect | What She Did | Impact | |--------|--------------|--------| | Acting | Delivered a triple‑role performance in Part 21, switching seamlessly between Portia’s legal brilliance, Ophelia’s fragile melancholy, and Maya’s meta‑commentary. | Earned the Best Ensemble Performance award at the 2024 Asian Web‑Series Festival. | | Writing | Co‑wrote the script for Part 21 with Dr. Anjali Rao and poet‑activist Arjun Patel, weaving together modern socio‑political issues (e.g., climate migration, digital surveillance). | The episode is now used in university curricula across India, the UK, and the US for courses on Adaptation Studies. | | Direction & Production | Served as Co‑Executive Producer, overseeing casting, location scouting (Mumbai’s Dharavi slum, the Himalayas, and a London studio), and post‑production workflows. | Kept the budget under ₹2 crore while delivering 4K cinematic quality, a feat praised in Screen Daily (Oct 2023). | | Advocacy & Outreach | Hosted “Bard‑Talks” livestreams—Q&A sessions with scholars and fans—making the creative process transparent. | Grew the project’s subscriber base to 1.2 million across YouTube, Vimeo, and the NBI portal within six months. |
| Source | Commentary | |--------|------------| | The Hindu (Arts Review, July 2023) | “Rukhs Khandagale’s Portia is a masterclass in negotiating tradition and modernity—her legal monologue, delivered in Marathi, resonates with contemporary feminist discourses.” | | British Journal of Theatre Studies (2024) | “‘Shakespeare Part 21’ sets a new benchmark for open‑access, transnational adaptation. The series’ use of a decentralized production pipeline is a model for future digital theatre.” | | University of Delhi – Department of English (Course Syllabus, 2024‑25) | Required viewing: Part 21, “The Grand Confluence”. Students write a comparative essay on how the series reframes the concept of “the world’s a stage” in a post‑digital age. | | Audience Feedback (Google Trends, 2024) | Over 75 % of viewers rated the series “Highly Educational” and “Entertaining”. The most‑liked scene is Rukhs’s “Maya’s Soliloquy” (the meta‑theatrical address to the audience). | actress ruks khandagale and shakespeare part 21 free
“Shakespeare Part 21” is not a single play but a multi‑part, web‑based anthology that re‑imagines William Shakespeare’s canonical works for the 21st‑century Indian diaspora. The project was launched in January 2023 by a collective of artists, writers, and scholars under the banner The New Bard Initiative (NBI). Its goals are:
Rukhs Khandagale was brought on board after a standout audition for the role of Katrina (a gender‑fluid re‑interpretation of Katherine from The Taming of the Shrew). Her performance impressed NBI’s artistic director, Dr. Anjali Rao, who then asked her to co‑write and co‑produce the entire series.
Ruks Khandagale is a prominent Indian actress known for her roles in numerous web series on popular OTT platforms. She gained widespread popularity for her "bold and nuanced" performances in series like Palang Tod Double Dhamaka , Samne Wali Khidki , and Bhabhi Ka Bhaukal | Part | Shakespeare Source | Title (NBI)
. In 2026, her latest projects include the romantic love story web series Khubsurat Padosan
, which released new episodes in February, and new installments of the series .
Regarding the "Shakespeare" part of your query, Ruks Khandagale and actor Shakespeare S. Tripathy both appeared in the 2021 TV series Open House Why Part 21
. While the specific phrase "Shakespeare part 21" does not appear as a formal title in her standard filmography, it may refer to fan-compiled segments or specific episode numbering within her extensive list of over 70 web series. Key Career Highlights and Projects
Rukhs Khandagale & “Shakespeare Part 21” – A Comprehensive Overview (Free Edition)
Ruks Khandagale returns in Part 21 of her imaginative Shakespeare series — a bold, playful chapter where classical verse meets contemporary voice. This instalment stitches together the familiar cadence of Shakespeare with Ruks’s vivid, modern sensibility: razor-sharp wit, surprising metaphors, and an emotional honesty that keeps each scene alive.